


Beware the Shadows

by kaynibbler16



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-27
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-10 05:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1155605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaynibbler16/pseuds/kaynibbler16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Tyler works for Torchwood, a group of paranormal investigators, that has been asked to investigate claims of a haunting on the Smith Estate. What they discover there is nothing like they have ever seen before and they need to band together if they all want to make it out alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thought I'd try out some alternate universe and this was the result. This story is un-betaed, so if you find any spelling errors or mistakes please let me know. Other than that, feedback is wonderful so please leave a comment or two. I hope you enjoy it! =)  
> Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters.

Rose Tyler hauled the rest of the equipment into the back of the van for their newest assignment. She and the rest of the team had been asked to investigate claims about an old house that’s been scaring the locals for years now. They often got requests from the owners of the homes they investigated, but not this time. The old caretaker of the house, Wilfred Mott, asked them personally if they would take a look. Well, him and a majority of the little village that lived there.  
  
Rose wouldn’t deny that she was curious about this home.  
  
From what they’d been told it was actually an old mansion that had been in the area for generations, owned by the same family; the Smiths. According to Jack, their boss, the family had been known for their eccentricity and it wasn’t uncommon to hear loud bangs or small explosions coming from the estate.  
  
Rose thought over the conversation that they’d had a few weeks ago about the house, particularly the incident from ten years ago. Jack called them in to discuss their plan of attack for this investigation and the basic history of the estate, but mostly the recent events.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
A few weeks earlier, in the back room of a small shop labeled Torchwood: Paranormal Investigators, the employees of Torchwood were gathered around the table waiting for Jack’s news.  
  
“Alright everyone, we’ve got a job!” he announced gleefully.  
  
“Really? And where will this job be?” Mickey was hardly one to beat around the bush. He was always wary of where the new jobs would be, mostly because of expenses.  
  
Jack smirked. “It’s not too far from here, about 50 miles north in the town of-” he paused for a moment as he flipped through the file on the table, “Gallifrey! Weird name for a town, but anyway, the home we were asked to investigate is known as the Smith Estate. Really, who came up with these names?  
According to the information I’ve found, the Smith Estate had been owned by the Smith family for generations. It passed from father to son until ten years ago when the current owner vanished into thin air.”  
  
“What?!” Mickey exclaimed. “Nobody just vanishes, Jack. Maybe the guy skipped town or something.”  
  
Jack shrugged. “That’s one of the rumors floating around this little village, too. There are so many different urban legends about this guy. Some even claim that he was actually not the son of the original owner, but that he was the original owner himself and that each different ancestor was a different incarnation of Mr. Smith. Apparently many were convinced that he was some kind of shape shifting alien stuck on Earth while trying to repair his ship. Trust me, Mickey, the stories about this guy get weirder and weirder the more you look into them, but there is some truth to the conspiracies.”  
  
“And what truth would that be, Mr. Harkness?” Rose sassed cheekily. She and Jack went way back, he used to babysit her when her mother was working. He was an old family friend to Rose, Jackie, and even Mickey.  
  
“Well, Miss Tyler, before I was rather rudely interrupted, I was going to say that previous owner had been a very eccentric person. So it wasn’t unusual for people to draw strange conclusions about his past or his family’s history.”  
  
Rose quirked an eyebrow. “So, who was the guy?”  
  
Jack grinned. “You’re going to love this; his name was Dr. John Smith.”  
  
Everyone in the room groaned.  
  
 _John Smith_ , Rose mused, _how original_.  
  
Jack continued, “Apparently, Dr. Smith was a very excitable professor at the local university as well as a highly intelligent scientist. Records show that he had been working on some projects at his home. Rumor around the campus was that the projects had something to do with time travel.”  
  
Rose had to admit, that was different. He must have been a big fan of H. G. Wells.  
  
“According to the locals stories, Dr. Smith had built a machine that he claimed was only a step away from successful time travel. On the night that he tested his machine, something went wrong and the project failed. Now most believed that Dr. Smith had been so devastated by his project’s failure that he couldn’t face the embarrassment it caused and left town in the middle of the night. Of course, there were other theories that would suggest that the project exploded and killed both the professor and his assistant Mr. Lee McAvoy.”  
  
“He had an assistant, too? So it wasn’t just him who went missing.” Mickey had an intrigued look on his face and Rose knew that Jack had gained the man’s approval for the job.  
  
Rose was not so easily convinced. “So what?” She gave Jack ‘the look,’ as he liked to call it. The one that said that she wasn’t buying the pitch he was giving.  
  
A smug grin covered Jack’s face. “So what?” he repeated. “So everything, Rose Tyler. It was on this night that the haunting started. Or, that’s how the villagers tell it.”  
  
“Villagers? You mean to say that the townspeople have also inquired about the estate?” Mrs. Moore chimed in from behind Rose. Mrs. Moore, as she was known around Torchwood and other investigator’s circles, was actually Angela Price whose day job was at a technology firm. They didn’t know much about her job other than she gets paid very well and is well respected in her work.  
  
“Yes. It was not actually Mr. Mott’s idea; the villagers begged both him and a distant relative to the Smith family, a Sarah Jane Smith, if they could at least have someone take a look at the house. There have been reports of increasing activity surrounding the property that has the entire town on edge.” Jack handed out some reports and personal letters from the townsfolk that Mr. Mott had sent him.  
  
“That is unusual.” Rose read through some of the papers in front of her, reading each account that made some upsetting claims about the Smith Estate.  
  
Jack’s face grew hard as he pulled out another folder from under some of the inquiries. He flipped it open and stared at it for a moment. “There is also some concern that there had been some ‘unholy rituals’ that might have taken place on the property, too.”  
  
“They think that there are demons on the estate?” Now, Rose was not very religious and did not believe for a second that there could possibly be some ‘demonic presence’ at the house, but it might explain some of the villager’s reactions. Rose considered herself a skeptic in that regard. “Jack, this better not be a wild goose chase.”  
  
“Rose, I know you really don’t believe this stuff, but the villagers are terrified and our job is to pacify them first. They believe it’s real and I want to calm their nerves about the situation, whether or not we actually find anything.”  
  
Rose understood what Jack was saying, as she firmly believed the same thing, but deep down she felt that the villager’s had demonized the professor in some way and that did not sit well with her. It was similar to the way she was treated as a child because of her ‘condition.’ Just because she was different, she was treated cruelly.  
  
“I know,” she said, feeling like a chastised child. She leaned back in her chair and downed the rest of her tea. “Alright then, what other rumors are there about this Dr. Smith?”  
  
Jack went on to say, “There are a fair few that have claimed that the project had not failed at all and in fact was successful, hence why Dr. Smith has never returned. Either way, the fact is that something happened in that house that is scaring the locals and our team is the most reliable in the area. There are a few things I need to show you before we all decide to take this job.”  
  
Jack pulled out another folder and passed out a few photos. The first photo was of the house, if one could call it that. It was massive and that was just being modest. It resembled a castle that belonged in a fairytale. An original Grimm Brother’s fairytale, that is.  
  
No wonder the locals were so terrified of this place, it was downright horrifying even in the daytime.  
  
Mickey whistled when he saw the picture. “Damn, Jack. Are you sure we aren’t secretly starring in a horror film. I’ve seen some scary places, but this takes the cake.”  
  
Jack snorted. “What’s this, Rickey Boy? You scared?”  
  
Mickey gestured rudely at the larger man and Rose intervened before it devolved into an insult match. “Enough, you two. We have work to finish.”  
  
He mumbled under his breath, “He started it.” Rose gave him a dirty look and he instantly quieted after that.  
  
Jack explained that the photo was taken about a year ago, just outside the estate. After that, he passed around a second picture taken a few weeks ago. The change was astonishing. The house looked even more dilapidated than before and much more ominous.  
  
“Whoa, what happened?” Rose may not know much about structural decay when it came to homes like this, but she had never seen something like this before. The entire house looked like it had been abandoned for decades, not simply a year.  
  
Rose had a feeling that Jack knew this would catch her attention as he described the photo in front of her. “The first nine years since the accident it looked just like that first picture I showed you, however, starting a year ago everything around the estate seemed to change. Many of the villagers described that it was only an ominous feeling whenever they passed the estate, but over the last year that feeling increased to the point that nobody would so much as walk or even drive by it. Others that were daring enough to go near the place described seeing lights flickering in the house and reported shadows moving in front of the windows. And then there are the ‘specters’ as many of villagers called them. Some were able to snap a few pictures of what they saw, before they took off running of course.”  
  
Jack pulled out a set of photos this time. The first one Rose received showed what looked like a large, black creature hovering behind a wall beside the large gardens. Although it was difficult to see, another had a humanoid figure standing just outside the doors of the house. This figure was tall and slim; it looked more like a shadow of a man. Jack caught Rose’s eye and nodded towards the picture.  
  
“Several say that’s him; Dr. Smith. He was just about that tall.” He pulled out one last photo and handed it to Rose.  
  
She was taken aback by the picture. Unlike the other photos, this was hardly a terrifying image. A tall man with a slim, wiry frame and unruly hair stood next to an older man in a red hat. Standing next the older man was a ginger haired woman who looked just about ready to smack the tall man. Pointing at the younger man in the photo, Jack explained that this was Dr. John Smith.  
  
“He looks a bit young to be a Doctor,” Jake, their tech guy and Mrs. Moore’s nephew, commented.  
  
“Well, he was a bit of a genius according to Mr. Mott. A child prodigy that, after completing school early, went on to earn a few doctorates. And by the looks of things, he also has a nice set of-”  
  
“Jack, is that really necessary?” Rose interrupted him, trying to fight a smile at her friend/boss’s salacious habits.  
  
Jack took the photo and placed it back in the folder, along with the other photographs.  
  
“Well,” Mickey drawled, “what does everyone think?” It was obvious that everyone was a bit wary of taking this assignment.  
  
“Jack,” Rose turned to her friend with a questioning look in her eye, “do you really think we should do this? I mean, look at the state of this house. It doesn’t look like it’s hospitable at all. Are you sure this is safe?”  
  
Running a hand through his hair, Jack had a careful look in his eye. Rose could tell he wasn’t totally sure this would be the best of ideas, but knew that the villagers needed their help so he didn’t want to back out.  
  
“I spoke with Mr. Mott, the older gentleman you saw in that last photo, and he assured me that it was only the outside of the house that looked that run down. The inside is just as furnished and taken care of as ever, as was in the Mr. Mott’s contract. He said that he’s taken very good care of the house, with the help of Ms. Smith and Donna Noble, his granddaughter. He cannot explain what happened to the outside of the house along with the rest of the estate, but he’s taken care of the inside. He’s assured me, it’s safe.”  
  
Rose was still skeptical, but she’d take a look at the house first before deciding anything. She trusted Jack’s judgment and this wouldn’t be the first time they took on a possibly dangerous assignment. That’s why Torchwood was as famous as it was; it took the jobs that many other paranormal investigators would turn down.  
  
“Alright, fine. Count me in,” Rose said, rather disgruntled by Jack’s assuredness in her taking the job. Git.  
  
After that, everyone unanimously agreed to take the job. It was an unusual request, but they were Torchwood; they were used to that. The only member that had not been present at the time was Ianto, Jack’s partner, who had been away on a business trip for the past week. Jack had already discussed it with him over the phone and Ianto agreed, promising to be back in time for the job.  
  
After all was said and done, they each decided to take time off of work to get as much investigation done at the estate as they could. Each member of the team managed to get five days free for the trip, weekend included.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Back to the present time, Rose secured the equipment for travel and hopped in the front seat of the van with Mickey. Jack was riding with Ianto in his vehicle and Mrs. Moore and Jake were riding together in her car.  
  
“Ready?” Mickey asked her, excitement bright in his eyes.  
  
Rose smiled back. “Ready.”  
  
And they pulled away from Torchwood headquarters on their way to the village of Gallifrey.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team arrives in Gallifrey where they meet up with the Smith Estate's caretaker, Mr. Mott.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter of Beware the Shadows. This story is un-betaed, so if there are any mistakes or errors, please let me know. Otherwise, feedback is wonderful so please leave a comment or two. Enjoy!

The Torchwood team pulled up in front of a small house on the outskirts of the village of Gallifrey where the caretaker of the Smith Estate, Wilfred Mott, and his family lived. The older gentleman met them at the door with a kindly smile and Jack greeted him with a handshake. “Hello Mr. Mott, I am Jack Harkness and this is my team, Torchwood.”  
  
“Yes, thank you for coming. Come in, come in, it’s a bit chilly out today. And call me Wilf, Mr. Mott is too formal for my tastes.” He ushered them into his home and brought them to the dining room where there were several cups of tea waiting for them, along with the ginger haired woman they saw in the photograph. She had a pinched look on her face; it was a rather distasteful expression. She obviously wasn’t too happy that they were there, or that’s what it seemed like. None the less, they had a job to do and they would be professional about their interactions.  
  
Although, to Rose, the woman looked more apprehensive than intimidating and she couldn’t explain it, but the woman seemed very sad and lost. Rose felt that she was more bluff than confidence.   
  
Strange.  
  
The woman stood as soon as everyone entered the home, giving them a rather cold reception as she placed herself as far away as possible while still remaining in the room. Not very inviting, but that happens, as Rose has learned.  
  
They all greeted Wilf individually and each grabbed a cup. Rose was surprised that the man knew to have the tea ready; Jack must have called him ahead of time.  
  
“Lovely home, Wilf.” Jack struck up small talk with the older gentleman, a tactic of his that normally cleared the air and gave a friendlier atmosphere.  
  
“Thank you. Lived here for years. It’s where my daughter Sylvia grew up and now where my granddaughter and I live. That’s her over there, my Donna, though I figured you already knew that.”  
  
Rose watched the woman tense up a bit before giving a tight smile towards Jack that didn’t quite reach her eyes. This woman got more and more fascinating. Now it was Rose’s turn to clear up a bit of the uncomfortable tension in the room.  
  
“Hello,” Rose said politely to the woman, Donna.   
  
Donna wasn’t expecting Rose to greet her, judging by how badly she started. She swallowed visibly before greeting her back. “Yes, hello.”  
  
Rose wasn’t sure what compelled her, but she that this woman needed her help and who was she to deny someone. “This would be my first time in Gallifrey, never heard of it before.”  
  
Donna looked at her strangely and Rose thought for a moment that she might have upset the woman, but then Donna did something rather unexpected. She laughed. “I reckon not many people have, it’s so small that it doesn’t show up on maps.”  
  
Rose giggled, realizing that Donna was just as nervous as she was. “Well, I grew up in London so I guess I’m used to the big city, but this is a nice change of pace.”  
  
Donna snorted. “Really? This town is hardly where I would go for time away. There’s not much to do here besides stargazing, but that’s not why you’re here is it?”  
  
Instead of making Rose feel uncomfortable, the question was aimed with a bit more humor to it. Rose smiled. “No. We hope that we can shed a bit of light about this ‘haunting’ that has the villagers nervous.”  
  
“Yeah, well, they were always a nosy bunch, but there is a mystery about that house. I guess we’ll never really know what happened that night.”  
  
“The night of the accident,” Rose inquired.  
  
Donna flinched, but nodded. Obviously that was a sore subject for her.  
  
“A lot happened after that. There was an investigation, which I’m sure you’ve heard about.” Rose nodded, letting the woman know that their team was familiar with the incident and the aftermath it caused.  
  
There was one subject that Rose was unclear about. “They said that there had been a prime suspect, or someone they believed might have been involved in Dr. Smith’s disappearance.”  
  
Donna eyes turned cold, but they were not directed at Rose. “Harold Saxon.” She spat the name out so harshly that Rose was surprised no one jumped. “He was John’s cousin. The man was jealous that John inherited the estate and not him; Saxon believed that it was owed to him for whatever delusional reasons he had.”  
  
Leaning her head against the wall, Donna heaved an angry sigh. “He was there that day, despite the alibi he gave the police. Harold Saxon was at the estate that day; I saw him drive away when I was passing it.”  
  
Rose was confused now. “You mean Saxon might have had something to do with Dr. Smith’s accident?”  
  
Looking her in the eye, Donna nodded and said, “There is no doubt in my mind that Harold Saxon had been involved with the incident. John and him had a fierce rivalry; John was in it for the science but Saxon was in it for the money.”  
  
“In it?” Rose was completely lost now; what was this ‘it’ that she was referring to?  
  
“The creation of John’s machine,” Donna said, as though it were the most obvious fact in the world.  
  
“What did Saxon want with John’s machine?”  
  
“Who knows, but there was something that John didn’t want him to get a hold of. John wasn’t the only genius in the family; the whole lot of them were brilliant and Saxon was no different, however, Saxon was a stain on the family. The bastard didn’t care who he had to screw over, so long as he got what he wanted.” Donna also didn’t care who heard her, as the entire room went silent to as everyone listened in for the rest of the story. Wilf looked slightly nervous, but did not stop his granddaughter.  
  
“I’m tellin’ ya, what happened at that estate has Saxon’s interference written all over it.”  
  
Rose knew that getting people’s opinions was typical protocol for most investigators, but for these people, in this town, it was obvious that it wasn’t just about the haunting. Torchwood was often more concerned about the people involved in a haunting because it was affecting their lives and they made it their goal to make sure that the people they helped felt as safe as possible.  
  
This was going to be difficult.  
  
“We’ll take that into account,” Jack said as he sat down on the sofa as everyone finished their tea and moved the conversation into the living room. Wilf then got up and retrieved a folder labeled ‘Smith’ on the side and handed it to Jack.  
  
“These files are a bit more sensitive and I didn’t want them falling into someone else’s hands, namely Saxon.”   
  
Jack flipped through the contents of the folder and Rose recognized the expression on his face as one he used when he memorized every detail, knowing that they were going to need it later. He handed the folder to her and she scanned the papers. In it were the transcripts of conversations between Wilf and Dr. Smith over the phone, which Rose found highly unusual. They were mostly innocuous, but there was one conversation that caught Rose’s attention.   
  
It was about John Smith’s machine.  
  
“So he really was trying to invent a time machine?” Rose asked Wilf with a certain amount of awe. It was true; the man really had built something like that.  
  
Wilf hesitated before answering. “Of sorts, yes he did. It didn’t work quite yet and it was very rudimentary, but he was working on it. John even went as far as to propose an idea for a new ‘Temporal Physics’ department at the university he worked at. Many called him crazy or insane, but some actually believed he could do it.”  
  
Rose smiled at the older man. “You believed he could do it, too.” It wasn’t a question and by the look on Wilf’s face, Rose could tell he truly did.  
  
“John was an amazing man. Generous, too. When I lost my job because of an injury, John asked if I would be the caretaker for the estate. As soon as I recovered, I started working at the house. It used to be so grand and beautiful, but now it’s all gone downhill. We still don’t know what happened but we’re sure that something went wrong with his machine, which is strange.”  
  
Mrs. Moore, who had been silent for most of the conversation, looked puzzled at the last statement. “Strange? In what way?”  
  
Wilf sat down heavily next to Jack. “Well,” he said, biding his time, “John had no intention of using the machine on the estate. He was only building it there. The parts weren’t even fully put together yet when the accident occurred. We haven’t a clue what caused it.”  
  
“How did you know there was an accident?”   
  
“Oh, the whole town heard it. There was a loud bang and a bright flash of light coming from the house like nothing had before, and since it sits on a hill overlooking the village, it was easy to see. Wasn’t that late at night either, so many people were still out and about.” Wilf looked a bit winded from talking, so Donna chimed in.  
  
“After that, it seemed like the whole town gathered by the gates as the police went to investigate.”  
  
Rose passed the folder back to Jack and he handed it over to Wilf. Jack must have known there was more to the original investigation than Donna was letting on. “What happened with the investigation?”  
  
Donna shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. Realization dawned on Jack’s face. “It was botched, wasn’t it? There was interference.”  
  
Donna ran her hands over her face in frustration. “Yes. And it was none other than Saxon. He probably paid off some of the some of the officers during the investigation so he wouldn’t be implicated.”  
  
Rose was appalled. “But how?! Wouldn’t somebody have caught on?”  
  
Donna looked at Rose as though she had dribbled on herself. “Saxon is a businessman; a very powerful one at that. He has his hands in a lot of dangerous organizations. You may not have heard of him in London, but around here his name carries a lot of weight. He eventually got into politics, too.”  
  
This topic was so confusing and it was making Rose irritated. “So why hire us? We’re paranormal investigators, what can we do to solve a case like this?”  
  
Jack stood and looked at Rose for a brief moment before facing Wilf, his face withdrawn and tight. “You hired us because of me, didn’t you? You knew I had connections to the government and if I discovered something that might put Saxon at the scene of the crime, it could launch a full-scale investigation. Unless he has friends in very high places, which I’ve no doubt that he does, Saxon would be on the chopping block. So that’s why you need me. I know how to work around that.”  
  
The conversation had taken a very unusual turn and Rose couldn’t tell what was up and what was down anymore. “Jack, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought you were just a paper pusher for some government agency?”  
  
“That’s more Ianto’s specialty; he deals with the legalities and I do the leg work,” Jack said, sitting back down on the couch. “The point is, someone knows what I do for a living and I’m pretty sure I know who it is. Sarah Jane Smith.”  
  
Donna glared at Jack sardonically. “How ungrateful are you; if not for her, you never would have solved your case. She’s the one who made all the connections.”  
  
Donna was not one to be trifled with, as the woman continued to emit an agitated aura towards most everyone in the room. This entire job was not at all what it appeared; what was it they were supposed to investigate, the haunting at the Smith Estate or the disappearance of Dr. John Smith and his assistant?  
  
Jack sighed. “And I’m very grateful to her, believe me. We never would have caught the…culprit, without Sarah Jane’s help. But I’ve already paid back my debt to her, so why does she want a favor now?”  
  
“She really needs your help,” Wilf interjected. “We all do. What’s happening at that house is getting worse and she said that there was one person she knew who could possibly help us. You’re the one individual she believes would not be influenced by Saxon.”  
  
“But wait…” Rose was still lost on a few facts, “if Saxon was so defensive about what happened at the Smith Estate, why hasn’t he tried to prevent us from investigating?”  
  
Wilf turned a nervous eye towards Jack, who spoke softly, “Because he wants to see if we can find what he’s looking for. He probably already knows we’re here, but there is something that he wants in that house and if he were to try and take it by himself, it would draw unwanted attention to him.”  
  
“So wait,” Mickey interrupted, “we’re doing his bloody dirty work? Look, I get that you want to figure out what happened that night, I really do, but I don’t want to get dragged into anything illegal. Whatever this Saxon guy is looking for has to be something either dangerous or career threatening if he’s getting other people to do it for him.”  
  
“Exactly,” Jack said carefully. “He needs someone else to take the fall in case something goes wrong, but he made a mistake. He let his ego get in the way.”  
  
Jake spoke up. “What do you mean?”  
  
“Well,” Jack drawled, “if Saxon had taken enough time to investigate into our lives, he would have put a halt to this immediately. Ianto, Mrs. Moore, and myself are more of a threat to him than he thinks and he’s allowed for us to get this far. He didn’t do his homework and it’s going to cost him.”   
  
Clapping his hands together suddenly, Jack startled everyone in the room and announced that they would meet with Wilf, Donna, and Sarah Jane tomorrow afternoon at the Smith Estate. Before which, he would like to do some research on the family’s history in the house. Rose was still suspicious of Jack’s reasons for taking this job.   
  
Something was off and she was going to find out what.  
  
As they left Wilf’s home, Rose pulled Jack aside and asked him outright, “What the hell are we doing here, Jack? Why are we taking this assignment?”  
  
Jack’s face didn’t belie the emotions underneath, as Rose was certain he’d been trained to do. “Rose, there is something about that house. I can feel it and I’m pretty sure you can too, am I right?”  
  
Rose swallowed, feeling small tendrils of fear at the ‘things’ she was picking up from the estate. “Jack, I’m not sure about this. Saxon sounds like a dangerous person and I don’t want you or anyone else in this team to get caught in the crossfire.”  
  
“I know, Rose, but don’t worry too much. I’ll get Ianto to lay some traps for Mr. Saxon in case he comes a knocking. I’m going to make sure we get through this assignment safe and sound, but I need you to trust me,” Jack replied, bopping Rose on the nose with his finger like he’s always done whenever she got scared. Which she was.  
  
“Fine, but promise me you’ll be careful.”  
  
“I will.”  
  
Jack gave her a quick hug before darting back to his vehicle, leaving Rose to stand there for a moment. He still wasn’t telling her something, she could feel it.   
  
The Torchwood team managed to arrange for some rooms at Rassilon’s Bed & Breakfast in town. Jack and Ianto were in a room the floor below Mickey and Jake’s room, and Mrs. Moore and Rose took the last available room which was on the top most floor with a view of the town. Rose always preferred the side closest to the window, which Mrs. Moore had no problem with.   
  
Rose chose to stay up later that night, wanting to review some of the folders and pictures that Wilf gave them before they left his home. She always wanted to be as prepared as possible for each job and there was no doubt in her mind that Jack was doing the same thing on the other of the house.  
  
Each folder contained different accounts throughout the years since the accident and, judging by each new perspective she came across, there seemed to be some recurring themes in each story. The first theme she noticed was that the lights always flickered on at the same time every night. Another was the shadow figures that would appear at different times each day, but usually only by the front door or in the master bedroom’s window. The last theme she discovered was the creature, or at least that’s how they described it. It was never in the same place and it never appeared in the house. People only saw it prowling the grounds.  
  
That was a bit disconcerting for Rose. It meant that whatever these people were seeing could possibly be either a wild animal or something that might not be tied to the haunting in the house. Not that she believed it could be a demon of some kind, but then again, it might be something they have never encountered before.  
  
There was only one incident where Rose came across a physical manifestation and it was in the basement of an old funeral home in Cardiff. Whatever was down there scratched her on the back two separate times, each on a different night of the investigation. She wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a negative entity on the estate, so they would have to be careful.  
  
She made a list of different places where they could set up cameras around the grounds so that they might catch the entity on video. She would take her EMF meter with her to the estate tomorrow while Wilf showed the around. Jack and Mrs. Moore had laid out general plans for where they could place the infrared motions sensors and Rose would have to talk to Jack about placing a few of them in the master bedroom and down by the front door. That’s where the humanoid figure often frequented.   
  
Most of the pictures were taken by other investigators, mostly amateurs, and any locals daring enough to get close to the estate. Wilf had not been kidding when he said that some of the stuff in the folders were rather sensitive, but it wasn’t the age of the documents. The contents discussed some of Dr. John Smith’s work, particularly his machine. While Rose flipped through the notes that she was pretty sure the police had never seen, a piece of paper fell out onto the floor.  
  
The side facing her had several strange, circular markings. It looked like a language of some kind, but Rose had never seen anything like it. She picked up the document and flipped it over, gasping in surprise at what she saw.  
  
It was the machine!  
  
Or, that’s what it looked as though it could be. The top drawing was in the shape of a large hexagonal desk; each side possessed several buttons, switches, and other parts that she didn’t recognize. The bottom drawing was a strange doodle, if that’s what she could call it. It looked like a piece of coral. Unfortunately, Rose could not decipher the words written next to it. It was obvious this Dr. Smith had terrible handwriting.  
  
This must have been one of the things that Saxon was after; something told her that he could probably decipher the strange symbols on the back as well as the atrocious cursive on the front. She was going to have to hide this somewhere and, as much as she trusted the locals to mind their own business, yeah right, she wasn’t taking any chances. She would have to keep it with her as it might come in handy later.  
  
Setting aside the drawing, she scanned some more of the photographs when something caught her attention. In some of the photos, the creature appeared darker or denser. Looking at the dates on the backs, Rose arranged the photographs from the earliest to latest and made a rather horrifying discovery. The creature’s form was becoming more and more distinct; as though it were slowly solidifying.  
  
She checked the same thing with the humanoid figures, but found no change. That was frightening; it meant that this could be an intelligent haunting of some form. A potentially dangerous one as well.  
  
From out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw something flicker. She turned towards the window, which gave an excellent view of Smith Estate. For a moment, she thought she saw the lights flip on. She stared for a few moments, not daring to blink, but nothing happened. She chalked it up to her imagination. And turned away to grab the folders off the floor where she’d left them before taking one last look at the house they would be investigating tomorrow.  
  
The lights in the master bedroom were on.   
  
Rose jumped. She stared for a while before her eyes started to water and she couldn’t resist blinking.  
  
They were off again.  
  
The hairs on her arms stood on end. There was something wrong with that house.  
  
Trying to calm her heart from the scare, Rose couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that the house gave her.  
  
This was going to be an investigation she would never forget.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 3. We find out a bit more about the estate and the Smith family. This story is un-betaed, if you see any mistakes or errors, please let me know. Feedback is wonderful, so please leave a comment or two. Enjoy! =D

The next morning, Rose woke earlier than she expected, possibly because of the odd dream she’d had. It felt so real, as though she were actually experiencing it. She remembered the sound of someone shouting and a distant wolf’s howl, but not much else.  
  
It was rather unnerving and put her edge.  
  
She showered and dressed before heading down to breakfast. Passing the front desk, an older woman that was talking with the owner gave her a sour look. Rose knew that expression well; it was often accompanied with a snide remark or dig about ‘ghosts’ and ‘weird people’ like her team. The owner gave Rose a sympathetic look, silently apologizing for the rude woman. Rose smiled tightly at the owner and acknowledged her with a nod.  
  
Walking into to the dining room, Rose found Jack and Mickey already discussing their plans for the day over eggs and toast.  
  
“Morning,” Rose greeted. Jack shot her a warm smile and Mickey attempted to say hello with his mouth full, without much success.  
  
“You’re up early; expected you to sleep in. You won’t fall asleep on the job, will you?” Jack jibbed. He stood up and pulled a seat out for her after she filled her plate to the brim with eggs, fruits, and beans on toast.  
  
“Somebody’s hungry.” After downing his drink, Mickey handed the newspaper he and Jack had been looking at before she walked in. “Look here, it’s from a few days after the incident at the Smith Estate.”  
  
Rose looked at the newspaper; there was a man with sandy blonde hair on the front page.  
  
The name ‘Harold Saxon’ was printed underneath the photo.  
  
“Ah,” Rose drawled as she analyzed the man’s cold expression. He may have had a smile on his face, but it did not reach his eyes. “Our prime suspect. He looks friendly.” Rose didn’t like this man at all; he looked to be everything Donna had said he was. Rose let her fingers trace his image for a moment.  
  
“Anything?” Jack asked.  
  
Rose closed her eyes and let her mind drift a bit before she caught something. It was faint, but the feeling was there all the same.  
  
“There’s anger and fear. Greed, so much of it, but, no, he couldn’t find it.” Rose drew out a long breath, trying to unscramble her thoughts. “There’s not much else to go on, how long did he use this newspaper?”  
  
“He only read it for a few minutes before leaving. Owner said he was here for a few more days after the incident at the Smith Estate, probably trying to find a way into the house without being noticed. The owner kept it in a box in the back room and pretty much forgot it was there until I asked,” Jack said, before taking another hearty bite from his food.  
  
Mickey took the newspaper from Rose and looked at the photo. “This guy gives me the creeps and I’m a ghost hunter.” He shivered.  
  
Jack was of the same sentiment as he discussed the outline for the day. “Yeah, but let’s make sure we avoid him as much as possible if he shows up at any point, ‘kay? Now, this afternoon we’re meeting Wilf at the estate so we can set up points where we want to investigate. Rose, you will have to work your ‘magic’ to see if you can pick anything up in the house. I want to see if it really is Dr. Smith in that house, or something else.”  
  
Rose nodded as she chewed her food. Thinking over that dream last night, something about it seemed so familiar, but she didn’t know why. Well, didn’t matter, she’d have time at a later date to analyze it; right now she had a job to do.  
  
Mrs. Moore, Jake, and Ianto trudged their way downstairs for breakfast and tea not long after Rose finished hers. They sat around the table talking through the finer points of the day. Rose would go with Ianto to the library and city hall to do some research in the remaining archives about the Smith Estate. Both Rose and Ianto were both very good with research so they hoped that they might find something that Saxon might have missed. The rest of the group would set up and fix some of the equipment before splitting up to talk with some of the locals. The team headed out to their tasks and Rose made sure to bring Dr. Smith’s drawing with her, just in case.  
  
Ianto had called the library a few weeks ago to see if the curator, Harriet Jones, had any archival material left from the investigation. Unfortunately, the police took much of the original documents which, if his assumption was correct, Saxon got a hold of and probably already burned.  
  
They were delightfully surprised to discover that Ms. Jones had taken the liberty of backing up those documents with copies years before the accident. Apparently, she had almost lost the entire collection once before when the area suffered a massive flood. Luckily for them, the police were not interested in whether or not she made any copies since they were only after the originals. Rose and Ianto then spent the better part of the morning pouring over those archival materials about the Smith family and their home.  
  
There were several pieces of paper with Rose’s scrawl spread out on the table when Ianto returned from a small café down the street with coffee and tea. Rose thanked him as he surveyed her notes, looking for any connections or patterns in the data. So far they had discovered that the family moved into the area in 1859 and were surprisingly well known for their lavish parties at the estate. No one knew where they came from and the family was not forthcoming with information about their history. There were no reports of any hauntings prior to that time or up until ten years ago.  
  
It was frustrating that the information they found was scant and riddled with holes; no doubt the missing information was probably destroyed in the flood. Taking their notes with them, the pair thanked Ms. Jones for her help and walked to city hall not far from the library.  
  
This is where they hit their first roadblock; they were denied access to the records there about the house. This infuriated Ianto, as he had done the same as with the library and called ahead of time to make sure the records were available. The archivist claimed that he never received any such phone call and if Ianto wished to continue harassing him, he might be forced to call police.  
  
They knew something was up.  
  
Ianto ducked out for a moment to make a call and not five minutes later the archivist was called back to his office by one of his assistants. A few moments later the archivist returned, looking much paler than before. Rose would never understand how Ianto managed it, but they gained access to the records. The archivist avoided Ianto and her after that and would only let his assistants help them.  
  
“Ooo, get this.” Rose handed Ianto an old newspaper clipping. On the front of the clipping there was a very haggard looking woman with wild eyes. Eyes that were eerily familiar. “Ushas Saxon of Cardiff, daughter of James Smith of the Smith family of Gallifrey, was arrested Friday for suspected illegal experimentation on both animals and humans. The methods by which she used were not made available to the public, but it is believed that mind-altering drugs and possible body modification may have been utilized. Other information about the testing includes her research on the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomena’ and gene splicing.”  
  
Ianto looked over the newspaper clipping as Rose read through a document that was folded underneath a folder at the bottom of the box. “It says here that she was arrested not long after her son, Harold Saxon, went off to school for the year,” Ianto clarified, as Rose dug around through more materials in one of the other boxes they were given.  
  
“Ah, seems that famous eccentricity backfired in her case.” Rose whistled as she read the rest of the accusations against Ushas. “Wow, seems her husband was also a bad egg. He was convicted on several counts of murder, which the police believed she might have had a connection to. This was one hell of a family.”  
  
The more they searched, the darker the history of the Smith family became. They found that several family members wound up in mental institutions, some on baseless accusations of insanity. Aside from that, many members held prestigious positions at universities and in office. One member in particular, Romana Smith, worked directly under the Prime Minister at one point, although it did not state the nature of her work. The only thing about her job that Rose could find was something called the ‘Blaidd Drwg Project.’ Odd name; sounded like Welsh.  
  
Most of what they discovered did not pertain to the last ten years so they were not much closer to solving the mystery of John Smith’s disappearance than they were before.  
  
They packed up their notes and left city hall, but not before Ianto gave the head archivist a sharp look. As they walked back to the car, Rose pondered over something they had come across. “Hey Ianto, have you ever heard of the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomena’ before?” she questioned, as they climbed into the car.  
  
Ianto was quiet for a moment, staring straight ahead. “Rose, that’s…” He pressed his lips together, bidding his time. “It’s very complicated and hypothetical. It’s just a theory.”  
  
“So,” Rose said irritably, “I’m not stupid, thank you very much. I could probably keep up.”  
  
Ianto pressed the heels of his palms against his closed eyes before answering. “It’s a complex idea that has been around for some time now. The theory states that when a human is placed into an induced state, similar to a coma, the mind travels outside the body to another plane of existence. The most basic explanation is that it’s a type of out of body experience.”  
  
“So why don’t they just call it that?”  
  
Ianto started the car and pulled out of the parking lot to meet up with the rest of the team at the bed and breakfast. By the look on his face, that wasn’t all there was to it. “There’s more. Even though the body stays in this plane, the theory states that the mind can create a second body that exists so long as you are in the other plane. It makes that plane seem as real to you as this one.”  
  
Rose followed along as he spoke and oddly enough, it made sense. “So the question is, how was Ushas Saxon trying to accomplish that? Maybe if we found out more about Ushas, then we can figure out how she was trying to do it.” She pulled out her smart phone and started researching the name ‘Ushas Saxon,’ but the only hits she got that weren’t about her connection to her husband’s murder spree or gene splicing was her obituary.  
  
Her research for the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomena’ was nowhere to be found.  
  
She clicked on a website and discovered that Ushas Saxon died not long after being convicted for illegal human experimentation and as an accessory to murder. It did not state how she died, only the date of her funeral. “Ah, well that didn’t help us. She died years ago.”  
  
Ianto shrugged. “There is no humane way to test the theory because the subject needs to be in such a catatonic state that when it was first tested, several of the subjects never came out of it. At least that’s what I’ve been told.”  
  
Rose nodded and accepted his explanation, but at the same time there was still something about the topic that niggled at the back of her mind. “So there has been some testing done on it before?”  
  
“Yes, but the research has been classified and it is impossible to gain access to it unless you have clearance. Basically, we won’t know what really happened during those initial tests.” Pulling into the parking lot beside Mickey’s van, they found Jack waiting for them on the front porch.  
  
“Tell me you’ve got something on this haunting.” Judging by the look on his face Rose could tell that Jack was agitated; he held the door open for the both of them.  
  
Rose rubbed the back of her neck and said, “Not as such, but we have found out a bit more about the Smith family. It’s no wonder the entire town is scared of them.”  
  
Jack led them up to his own room, where everyone else had gathered. There were papers and diagrams covering the floor and bed. Mickey sat in the desk chair, wearing a pair of headphones as he listened to a sound recording on his laptop. Jake and Mrs. Moore were flipping through sheet after sheet on the floor, murmuring back in forth, comparing notes.  
  
Rose took a seat on the bed as Jack poked Mickey in the shoulder to get his attention.  As everyone in the room turned their focus on Jack, he picked up a few documents off the desk beside Mickey. “All right gang, we have some new information on the Smith family and some personal accounts of some individuals who experienced the haunting. Who wants to go first?”  
  
Rose stood up from the bed and pulled out a few of the notes she and Ianto had made. “We will. The discoveries we made were mostly about Harold Saxon, particularly his mother Ushas Saxon. We discovered that she was experimenting illegally on humans and had been sent to prison when Saxon was still a teenager. There was also some speculation I found that Ushas might have experimented on her husband as well, who went to prison for multiple murders.”  
  
There were several shocked faces around the room, the team was surprised that an incident that extreme was kept such a secret in this little town. Mrs. Moore was the first to speak. “It makes you wonder how he managed to get into politics with that kind of background. There must have been several underhanded deals to get him where he is today.”  
  
“No doubt.” Jack spoke solemnly. “Anything about the haunting?”  
  
Rose shook her head. “There were no records of the last ten years in either of the archives. Probably got nicked during the police investigation. What did you find out from the people here?”  
  
Jack grunted and slid down onto the floor, rubbing his hands over his face. “Nothing. Zilch. It was the same stuff they sent us in the folders. People were either too scared to go near the estate or saw something and took off running. Those who managed to get pictures sent us their best ones; all the others they took were too out of focus.”  
  
The room fell silent. They’ve had troublesome cases before, some where there was almost nothing about the place they were investigating, but this was different. This investigation was no longer just about finding out if there was an actual haunting; they wanted to know what happened to Dr. John Smith and his assistant Lee McAvoy.  
  
Realizing that there was nothing more to discuss, the team started packing up and getting ready for the first night of investigation. As everyone else headed out the door, Mickey called out to Jack and Rose before they could leave. Leaning back in his chair, Mickey pulled up an audio file on his computer.  
  
“Jack, you know that kid who used his video phone to take some recordings out by the front gate of the estate?”  
  
Jack nodded.  
  
“Well, I think he might have gotten something. I haven’t listened to it all the way through, but I thought you want to hear this.” Mickey pulled the headphones out of the jack and turned the volume up as loud as he could. He pressed play on the file.  
  
At first there was nothing, just the sound of the kid breathing heavily but then-wait, was that? Rose looked at Mickey and then at Jack, both had shocked expressions on their faces. “What was THAT?”  
  
The sound on the recording was a low, guttural growl. Rose had never heard anything like it before. Mickey played it a second time, this time focusing on those brief seconds the sound occurred. “I ran it through Mrs. Moore’s sound program, but it can’t identify the species. Do you recognize it at all?” He directed this question to Jack, but the man just frowned and shook his head.  
  
Obviously it wasn’t a living animal, at least not one that’s ever been recorded. Whatever it was, they would have to be on alert tonight and make sure everyone had their state of the art communicators, courtesy of Mrs. Moore, on them at all times.  
  
Mickey shrugged and told Rose and Jack that they could always come back to it later, if they found anything on their recorders tonight. He packed up his things, pulled his phone out, and awkwardly walked out of the room, leaving Rose and Jack alone. Mickey was too busy looking at his phone and Rose watched as he almost collided with another guest just outside the door and she let a little giggle slip. He was probably updating Martha about the new things he’d discovered concerning the case.  
  
Mickey was a loon in love and she always wondered how he even managed to take so much time away from his wife; they were often glued to one another’s side back home.  
  
Turning around, Rose faced the other man in her life other than her best mate. The man who was so much a part of her life he was pretty much family. Jack was practically her brother, the way he took care of her and her mum.  
  
Walking up to her, Jack engulfed Rose in a hug, resting his chin on her head as she wrapped her arms around him.  
  
“You be careful tonight, ‘kay?” Rose murmured against his pressed shirt.  
  
“I will. And you too.” He pulled away, but not before pressing a kiss to her forehead. Rose nodded in response.  
  
Jack ushered her out the door as he went about his room collecting the rest of his equipment for the night. Rose went back to her room and put away all the papers strewn about the room from the night before in their proper places. She looked out the window again at the estate.  
  
There was something there, she couldn’t name it, but it was there. That feeling again.  
  
It was a sense of foreboding. Darkness hovered over that house.  
  
Shaking free of the cold tingles running up her spine, Rose finished gathering everything for her part tonight, taking extra precautions with the equipment she might need. Grabbing her jacket, she locked the door on the way out, placing a do not disturb sign on the door. It probably wouldn’t matter, but it never hurts to be careful.  
  
She headed out to the van where Mickey was waiting impatiently. For some reason, he was really excited about tonight, but she simply couldn’t share in his enthusiasm. Rose smiled at this and, despite her reluctance, clambered into the passenger’s seat. Jack took the lead as usual and they headed out to the estate where Wilf was waiting for them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 4! Same thing as always, this story is un-betaed so if there are any errors let me know. I really love feedback, so please let me know what you think.  
> Hint: We meet someone in this chapter. ;) Enjoy!

When they arrived at the front gates, Wilf and Donna were talking with a brown haired woman who looked to be in her late forties. As they pulled in behind Wilf's small car, Jack waved at the trio. Wilf and the brown haired woman, who Rose guessed to be Sarah Jane, walked over to Jack's vehicle and they talked briefly.

They then followed Wilf's car up the decently long driveway towards the house. As Mickey parked the car in front of the large home, the two friends inside gasped at the sheer size of it.

"Can you imagine living in some place like this? Beats coming from the council estate." Mickey said. They both stared in awe of the large home, despite its ominous visage.

Trees were stripped bare of their leaves and almost no living vegetation touched the home. It was like a ring of death surrounded the entire house, or as much of it as Rose could see. The house itself was made of a worn and well weathered stone, gray in color; it must have been magnificent in its prime. Now, it was cold and uninviting. The grounds were overgrown with dead or dying plants; the cause of which, as Wilf stated, was unknown. Rose hopped out of the van and pulled the side door open. After grabbing some of her devices and her satchel with the piece of paper in it, Rose walked over to the small group gathered by Wilf's car.

The brown haired woman was shaking hands with the team when Rose arrived. She held out her hand to Rose, smiling warmly. "Sarah Jane Smith. Nice to meet you." Her attitude was infectious and Rose grinned back. "Rose Tyler. It's great to meet you too."

Wilf gestured for them to gather round so he could explain a bit more about the house; Sarah Jane and Donna interjecting every once in a while. The grounds were large and sprawling, not something Rose wanted to walk during the night. It could be dangerous at times so best to stick around the house as much as possible. The house itself contained several rooms and was very strange in design; it was eerily similar to the Winchester house in California. One can get lost if they are not careful so they needed to pay attention to where they're going. The back gardens had a maze in it, but don't go in there because it was overgrown and there were several broken pieces of statues and pottery.

They all followed Wilf into the house and saw what he meant by unusual. The foyer was grand and whimsical; a mixture of different types of architecture. Oddly enough, there were three staircases. Two bordered the walls leading to the landing on the second floor, but the third spiraled from the center of the room straight up to the third floor through the ceiling.

It was fantastic!

Rose loved these kinds of homes; so much history, so much beauty. She could not imagine what it must have been like to grow up in a house such as this. They toured the first floor which included a parlor, a massive kitchen and several sitting rooms. The second floor consisted of many bedrooms with lavish bathrooms and studies as well as a library.

The moment Rose walked into the library her mouth dropped and she heard a snigger from Mickey. Elbowing him in the side, she noticed that the ceiling was higher than she anticipated; the room was so large it covered two stories.

Wilf was leading them out through another door on the other side of the room when something shifted just off to the side of Rose's peripherals. She whipped her head around and, for just a moment, she thought she saw a shadow move. It was beside a large window seat, but the longer she stared the more that she realized it could have been just her imagination, but that didn't stop a small chill from curling up her spine.

And then she saw it again, but this time it was right next to Wilf, as though walking with him. Wilf was completely unaware of the shadow, but Jack caught her eye and knew.

This was going to be an interesting night.

Touring through the house, Rose was thoroughly amazed by the openness of the home. She expected it to be cold and creepy, but not this house. It was the polar opposite of what it looked like on the outside, more beautiful too.

Wilf took them to the back of the house next, which surprised her. She was expecting to see the third floor, but Wilf merely brought them out onto a veranda that overlooked the back of the property. Had it not been for the unsettling atmosphere practically oozing from the grounds, Rose would have found the back gardens absolutely breathtaking. There was a hedge maze in back that became overgrown, but it was in the most beautiful shape.

A spiral galaxy, Wilf told them. Apparently John had it made a long while back; he just loved the stars.

As it was, though, there was much that made the entire scene frankly terrifying. Statues that should have been pleasant and pretty in the maze were distorted and twisted and Rose could not figure out why. Maybe it was the angle that the dying light of day hit them or maybe it was the way they were designed, but something about those statues gave Rose the creeps. Their normally beautiful faces were warped.

They were angel statues.

They looked as though they were…smiling. The angle was all wrong, though. Whatever the reason for these statues, Rose was certain that they didn't normally look like this. Turning away from the scene, the group headed back inside and into the main hall.

Rose realized that they had yet to see the third floor and the master bedroom. Wilf stopped in front of the spiral staircase, which Rose hadn't realized must have been one of the only entrance ways to the third floor.

"The original designers of this house had originally made it only two stories, but John added a bit onto it. The master bedroom is actually the entire top floor, with different parts of it segmented off into sections. He was quite the hobbyist and had a tendency to fall asleep on his workbench in the middle of the night. This was why he built a new master bedroom for himself, among other reasons." With that, Wilf led up the staircase to the top floor of the house.

They entered into a small sitting room, much like the ones downstairs. Wilf explained that Dr. Smith preferred to keep his privacy and had many other rooms built up here so that people wouldn't go snooping through his things. Not that it mattered now since all those objects and projects had been taken in by both Wilf and Sarah Jane for safekeeping. They couldn't bear the thought of vandals destroying Dr. Smith's work.

As Wilf led them through the different compartments of the master suite, Rose picked an array of vibes about this part of the house. It was newer, that much she knew, but there was much emotion radiating out of the walls and it made her head spin a bit. There was a bit of sadness, a touch of anger and frustration, but much joy.

This Dr. Smith was a happy man and, judging by the way Wilf, Sarah Jane, and Donna spoke of him, it was no doubt that he was well loved too, but all the other feelings she picked up in the room could not disguise a distinct sense of loneliness.

Rose did not find that very strange considering that it seemed he had lived in this house alone.

As they finally entered what had been Dr. Smith's bedroom, Rose gasped at the sight of a beautiful skylight over a four-poster bed. The idea of seeing the stars every night before falling asleep completely enthralled Rose.

Oh, she liked Dr. Smith.

Mickey whistled at the sight of the skylight too. "He spared no expense in here, did he?"

Wilf chuckled. "John had a degree in astronomy too. He didn't like to be far away from his stars if he could help it."

They walked around the room, looking around with scrutinizing eyes. There was a large bare bookcase against the wall that, had it been filled, would have had Rose drooling just like in the library. Wow, Dr. Smith must never have gotten tired of reading. She ran her fingers along the empty shelves and picked up a sense of curiosity and inquisitiveness.

Oh yes, he enjoyed reading.

She touched several objects around the room, gaining a stronger sense of the type of man Dr. Smith was when she arrived at his bed. Pressing a hand into the mattress Rose received something that surprised her.

There was barely any feeling coming from the bed.

"He didn't sleep in his room that much, did he? Was it more often that he dozed off in his workshop?" Rose asked, knowing that she was correct.

"Yep! Classic workaholic, you could say. Never thought he was ever finished, always had something he was working on."

Rose wanted to be in this room tonight. She had a feeling that there would be some activity here. Something was going to happen, she could just feel it.

They left the third floor down the way they came and followed Wilf the back through a set of double doors in back, leading out onto a different part of the large veranda. Rose could see the entrance to the maze from here, which was a gothic archway with a worn metal door. The sheer splendor of the home was reflected in the design of the back gardens and maze.

Rose walked along the veranda, absorbing the years of history of the home. So many emotions and memories seeped out of the masonry; a complex family with a tumultuous history. She was walking around the side of the house when she noticed something.

There were three jagged marks in the stonework; they looked like claw marks. Rose was afraid of them; something wasn't right about the creature that people saw on the estate.

She traced the gouges and an immense sense of rage and hatred poured into her. Rose felt a sharp sting, like a burn, surge through the fingers touching the wall.

Definitively something wrong. Whatever roamed these grounds was malicious and bloodthirsty.

"Rose!" Jack called to her, rounding the corner. "We're about ready to start setting up our equipment. You want to help Mrs. Moore grab the bags in the back of Mickey's van?"

Rose turned to him. "Sure. Jack, take a look at this."

The man walked up beside her and analyzed the marks. "Whoa, now that…that is something…"

"I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with the creature people have been seeing. This thing is tangible, Jack. It was able to carve into stone. This is nothing like we've ever seen before. I don't know if it's safe to be out here, especially at night."

Jack sighed. "You may be right, but this also might be the best job for Ianto and I. You, Jake, and Mickey will be working the master suite tonight. Mrs. Moore will run home base as usual and Ianto and I will keep tabs on the backyard by the maze. Some of the locals from earlier today mentioned that the statues sometimes move. At least that's what they say. There is also a basement that Wilf hasn't shown us yet where John keeps his workshop. It's a mess, so we won't take a look at it until tomorrow."

"Okay," Rose said, turning away from the ominous marks, "anything else I need to know before we head up to the master suite?"

Jack's fingers followed the same path hers did earlier, a tense expression on his face. "Yeah, be careful." You need to stay on alert tonight. We still don't know what we're up against and I need you to be the leader in there. You're the lead investigator when I'm not around so trust your instincts."

Rose smiled and hugged him around the waist, burrowing into his shirt a bit. "You too, immortal man." They both giggled a bit at the nickname he'd earned after a very close call during one of their previous investigations.

"Oh I will, Rosie. And remember to keep your communicator on at all times, okay?"

"Yes sir." She gave Jack a mock salute and a tongue touched smile and he bopped her on the nose.

After their ritual parting, which they always did before beginning any investigation, they found the rest of the group and discussed the matters of the night's investigation.

Mrs. Moore set up home base in the main foyer downstairs, where she would be able to maintain a critical eye on each of their activities. There were cameras set up everywhere they were investigating and in many places they wouldn't be, at least not that night. For the first part of the investigation, Jack and Ianto would be outside most of the night covering the grounds. Rose protested this, but Jack promised that if anything came up, she would be the first to know. Rose wanted to investigate the library at some point that night, but Jack wanted her to stick with the main bedroom.

Mickey and Jake would take the other rooms in the master suite tonight, while Rose was in Dr. Smith's room. They set up their equipment for taking measures of EMPs and motion cameras, just in case there was any movement in the rooms not of their own making.

Rose dropped her things on a wooden chair leaning against a desk. The old oak desk was lovingly worn from use and she could tell that it must have been passed down through the generations. The four poster bed looked to be made of mahogany and had intricate carvings in the wood of each post.

A closer inspection revealed the same intricate symbols as the writing on the drawing. It was ancient and beautiful. There were other designs as well; names of individuals and places, some of which she recognized including John's surrogate family, the Nobles. Rose closed her eyes and smiled; he loved them dearly, that much was obvious.

For such a lonely man, he had a wonderful family; one that he made himself.

Rose sank into the dusty mattress that Wilf was kind enough to provide sheets for. It was comfy, but cold. It was also large and he must have felt all alone whenever he slept; no wonder he didn't sleep in here that often.

They were about to start. She took a deep breath and prepared to immerse herself in the strange happenings of the Smith Estate.

"Everyone ready?" Came the crackly voice of Mrs. Moore. Each person chimed in. "Yep, I'm ready." Rose responded. She was more than ready to solve this mystery.

The master suite of the house was large enough that Mickey and Jake's investigation would not interrupt Rose's concentration. Closing her eyes, Rose focused on the atmosphere, letting her mind drift slowly away from her body.

Deeper and deeper, out of herself.

Every thought melting away.

Down and down she went…

The next time Rose opened her eyes, she found herself staring out the skylight above the bed, except there was no sky.

It was just a vast colorless emptiness.

Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention towards the desk where she remembered setting her stuff earlier.

There was a shock of messy brown hair hanging over the top of the chair and two arms dangled off the arm rests on each side. She couldn't see who it was as the chair was facing away from her, but by the sound of the slight snore emanating from them she could only assume they were asleep.

Quietly getting off the bed, Rose picked up a small stand nearby just in case the person might be dangerous. Slowly inching towards the figure in the chair, she noticed that the room looked slightly different than she remembered. There were more things strewn about and the walls were brighter. In fact, everything looked just a bit warmer.

Rose startled when she heard another sound from the person in the chair. It was only a small grunt, but it was enough to raise the alarm bells in Rose's head.

How did they get here?

When did they get here?

Why hadn't she heard them walk in?

And why were they asleep in the desk chair?

She drew in closer just as the person seemed to wake up. A deep yawn and a few cracks of joints indicated that they were male and most likely older than a teenager, by her best guess.

Just as the man stood up, Rose raised the stand preparing to swing if he attacked her and then he turned around.

Rose dropped the stand.

No, that wasn't possible.

The man blinked at her; utter surprise written all over his face.

"What?" The man squeaked. "What? Who…what?"

Rose was certain that her face reflected the same shock as the sputtering man. "You…you're…him."

The man was completely speechless, mouth moving but nothing coming out.

"You're him!" Rose practically shrieked. "You're Dr. Smith! You're Dr. John Smith of the Smith family. You…you…you're alive!"

This seemed to catch the man's attention as his mouth snapped shut and he swallowed roughly. "I am, but who are you? How are you here? It's completely impossible for you to be here unless…"

"Unless what?" Rose was incredibly curious as to how this man could even exist.

"Unless I've finally gone off the deep end. That's got to be it; I've completely lost my mind. Yup, must be mad as a hatter now. Bugger. No one else should be able to get here so that's the only logical explanation, because you just cannot be real."

Rose listened to the man prattle on and realized how much he must enjoy rambling. Well, that just wasn't going to solve anything. "Look, I don't know where I am, to be exact. Or maybe I do, but I really don't, oh this is confusing."

Dr. Smith stopped talking the moment she interrupted him, listening intently. "Oh," he said carefully, "you're at the Smith Estate."

"Well yeah I was, but not so much anymore, I think..." Looking around her, Rose realized that she was, in fact, in the Smith house. It was strange, everything seemed different and yet the same.

Rose noticed something odd about the mirrors in the room. Lifting her hand, she brushed the surface of her reflection and the mirror rippled. She jumped back, startled, right into Dr. Smith, who she hadn't noticed standing behind her.

"Oh! I'm sorry." She blushed as his hands shot out to steady her. They were large and calloused, yet still soft and gentle. Oh, that wasn't so bad.

Snap out of it, Rose!

"How are you alive?" she questioned.

"I don't know, I mean, maybe I'm dead, I really can't tell. Everything about this realm is unusual."

"Dead? Realm? What?" There was so much that she didn't understand about this man and now she discovers that she's supposed to be in another realm. This was bonkers. Completely mad; maybe he wasn't the only who'd lost their mind.

"Well, far as I can tell, there is no time here. It feels like forever and yet just yesterday I was having tea with Wilf." His face grew sad at the mention of the old man and Rose saw the loneliness in his eyes; it was the same she picked up in his bedroom earlier.

"Wilf…Wilf! Oh my god, Wilf thinks you're gone! But, but you're not. You're here; alive! Or, dead. I really can't tell."

The incredulous look on Dr. Smith's face gave her pause. He spoke slowly, "You know Wilf?"

"Well, yeah. He hired us."

"He hired who?"

"Torchwood."

The confusion on Dr. Smith's face only increased. "What the hell is Torchwood?"

Rose stopped for a second, regarding the man in front of her. He really didn't know who she or any of her team was, which wasn't surprising, but it led to a very good question. "We were sent here to investigate the haunting. However, I think your friends were more interested in your disappearance than a few reports of ghosts. How are you here?"

Dr. Smith scratched the back of his head in a nervous manner, possibly contemplating his next words. "Weeelll, there was an accident with one of my machines; an accident that should never have occurred. I think someone meddled with my equipment."

Rose didn't even miss a beat. "Saxon. It was Harold Saxon, wasn't it?"

Dr. Smith's face hardened. "How do you know about Saxon?"

"Donna doesn't seem to like him very much so we did a little digging on his history. The guy has his fingers in a lot of pies, so to speak."

At the mention of Donna, a look of affection crossed Dr. Smith's face. "You've met Donna? Oh, and you mentioned Wilf. You've seen them? How are they? Is Donna still mad at me? No, wait, did Wilf ever get his telescope fixed? I told him I could do it for him but he preferred to have a 'professional' do it. Really, I'm a genius with an astronomy degree and a couple engineering degrees on top of that. I could have fixed it; don't see why he wanted to go to someone else. Oh! Have you met Sarah Jane? How long has it been? Has it been a couple of weeks or maybe a month or—"

"Whoa, slow down there. I can only keep up with some of that." Rose waved her hands in his face, hoping that it was enough to distract him from rambling again. "To answer your first question; yes, I have met Donna. And Sarah Jane and Wilf. I have no idea about the telescope thing, but, um, a lot of time has passed…"

"Oh…" He trailed off, growing quiet. "How much time?"

Rose bit her lip; this was going to be difficult. He only thought it had only been a short while in the real world, but in reality it was ten years. She didn't want to hurt him.

"Please," he begged, his eyes misting a bit, "please, tell me how long it's been."

Swallowing, Rose bit the bullet. "It's been ten years since the accident."

Dr. Smith gaped and staggered back into the chair by the desk. "Ten…ten years? It's been ten years since all this happened? But how?!"

"We thought, maybe if we could find you, though I really don't know how we could have managed that, that you would know how this happened?"

Dr. Smith just stared at the papers strewn across his desk, papers that Rose had not noticed before.

He spoke, this time devoid of emotion. "No, I have no idea how this accident happened. If I had access to my other equipment maybe I could…Oh god, it's been ten years."

A few tears slipped out of his eyes and he ran his hands over his face; he was devastated.

Rose didn't know what to say so she walked over to him and offered what little comfort she could to this Dr. John Smith.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is un-betaed so if you see any mistakes please let me know. Enjoy! :D

Rose patted the man gently on the back as his shoulders shook. What else could she do? He had no idea how much time had passed in the other dimension, their dimension? Ugh, this was so confusing. Either way, she couldn’t just leave him to suffer alone, that’s just not what Rose Tyler did.  
  
Dr. Smith spent the next several minutes completely inconsolable, but Rose just let him grieve as she whispered soothing words.  
  
This was so surreal. Rose wanted to believe it was reality, but everything just seemed too fantastic. As she looked around the room she noticed that the walls were slightly off. They seemed to warp inwards, sometimes fluctuating.  
  
It completely was unnerving.  
  
One last choked sob from the spikey-haired man and he wiped the rest of the tears from his face. He stood up abruptly, almost knocking Rose onto her bum. “Right then,” he said, avoiding eye contact, “no use staying upset about it. There’s nothing I can do at this point, just try to work with what resources I’ve got. And I believe that would be you.”  
  
He glanced pointedly at her then, which confused her. “What do you mean ‘me’?”  
  
He smiled shakily, still processing the information she had unceremoniously dropped on him. “You, ugh…” he paused and scrunched up his face in an adorable way that really brought out those freckles on his face.  
  
Wait, adorable? Since when did she think he was adorable?  
  
The very odd man in front of her whipped out a pair of black rimmed glasses and stared hard at her. She felt sort of prickly under the intensity of his gaze.  
  
“You, um, what is your name anyway?” He had an awed expression, probably still shocked that she could even be standing before him in the first place.  
  
“Oh! I’m so sorry, my name’s Rose. Rose Tyler,” she said sheepishly. Rose had been so blown away by their situation that she completely forgot to tell him who she was.  
  
And then he gave her a smile that made her stomach flip. She ducked her head, trying to hide the blush creeping up her neck.  
  
“Rose Tyler.” The way he said her name made her toes curl. “Hm, I like that. Rose Tyler.” He emphasized ‘Tylah’ causing her to bite her lip, suddenly shy under this man’s oblivious watch. What was it about him that made her so responsive?  
  
He was attractive, no doubt. His brown hair stuck up all over and it made him look like an excited bird, with sideburns that curved in such a way that reminded her of her favorite film version of Mr. Darcy. A dusting of freckles covered his face and his eyes were an expressive brown. A Roman nose gave him a rather handsome profile and those pair of glasses completed what her friend Shireen called the ‘geek-chic’ look.  
  
“So,” he said, breaking Rose out of her thoughts, “what are you doing here precisely? And I don’t simply mean ‘here’ where we are standing, but in Gallifrey?”  
  
“Well it’s like I said, we’re investigating a haunting. Torchwood is a group of paranormal investigators that was asked to investigate your home. There have been reports of ghosts and specters seen all over your property and it’s scaring the locals.” Rose twisted a finger into her hair in a nervous manner.  
  
Dr. Smith was speculative for a moment. “And so Wilf invited you here to see if you could find anything unusual about this particular ‘haunting’ I assume?”  
  
“Yes. Although your friends don’t think that it’s a haunting at all and, by the looks of it, they might be correct. If you are indeed still living that means that it might be possible for us to fix what’s going on in the house, or at least that’s what I would assume. Since it was your project that caused this, do you know what might have gone wrong?”  
  
He turned towards the desk and picked up a few papers, scanning the information on each piece. “It is curious. I have been all over my notes but the problem is that the one piece of information that I desperately need wasn’t in the room when the project went critical, so I have no way of getting to it.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
He sat down in the chair and rubbed his face. “There were a few documents that I left up here the night of the accident, so I’m guessing that they never got caught in the energy field that transported us here. What I have here is what I had with me at the time. The thing is, it was those other documents that really could have helped me figure out how to fix the problem with my machine, but without them I believe Lee and I are well and truly stuck.  Which leads me back to you: you are here and I am beyond amazed at how that could be possible.”  
  
Rose blushed at the way he looked at her, as though she were the most amazing thing in the universe to him; which could quite possibly be true considering the situation they found themselves in. He hadn’t seen anything outside this dimension for the last ten years and suddenly a woman is thrust into his strange and lonely world.  
  
He stood up again and brought himself within inches of her, scrunching his face up and running his hand along his chin. “This is just fascinating. Who are you exactly?”  
  
“I already told you, I’m Rose Tyler.”  
  
He laughed. Loud and joyfully. “No, no, I meant how are you able to do this? I’ve never met anyone else other than Lee in this world all this time.”  
  
Rose smiled at his reasoning and refused to admit that his laugh made her stomach flutter. “Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve always been a bit different but this is definitely new.”  
  
Dr. Smith’s eyebrows raised into his hairline. “Different? How so?”  
  
“Well…I’ve always been able to ‘sense’ things. Not like a psychic but well, I just always knew things. Things that other people couldn’t sense. There were no theatrics just that…feeling. And sometimes I would see things that…” She felt a bit uncomfortable talking about that part of her ability, mostly because it barely made sense to her.  
  
Something in his expression shifted imperceptibly. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”  
  
“No, no it’s alright. I just don’t think you’ll believe me is all.” Rose brushed a stray hair out of her face as she looked anywhere but at him.  
  
Dr. Smith surprised her as he reached down and took one of her hands in his. It was a bit forward but for some reason having his fingers laced with hers felt right. He squeezed her hand encouragingly. “I’m currently trapped in a parallel dimension, one where I have been for ten years now. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”  
  
Rose sighed and looked up at him with as much courage as she could. “Sometimes I see things that haven’t happened yet. Things that I know haven’t occurred and yet will. And then they do.”  
  
Rose shuddered as she remembered the first time she experienced it and the fear it caused her.  
  
Mouth gaping, Dr. Smith squeezed her hand harder as he tried to say something to her, maybe even to comfort her fears. That’s when she realized that she was shaking. It was not something she liked to share with people and usually only those close to her knew about that part of her ability.  
  
“That’s…that should be impossible. How? When have you, I mean, were there any…experiences that…”  
  
She nodded. “The first time it happened I was only ten years old and mum and I were on our way to the market. I turned toward the road and I saw two cars colliding, but no one else saw it. No one else saw the people hit—”  
  
Rose had to stop as the memory assailed her just as it always did.  
  
Leading her toward the bed again, Dr. Smith sat her down so she wouldn’t collapse. It didn’t matter how many years passed, the memory of that day as she walked down the street with her mother always made her react this way. Taking deep, calming breaths Rose listened to Dr. Smith murmur soothing words and rub circles with his thumb on her hand. Dr. Smith then took her other hand and did the same with that one.  
  
When she felt ready to finally talk about her first experience, Rose squeezed Dr. Smith’s hands and looked up at him. “No one else saw the drivers hit their windshields or the pedestrians that got caught in between both cars on impact. My mother couldn’t understand why I would just start screaming in the middle of the sidewalk. I tried to show her the accident but she didn’t see it. No one did. They all thought I was simply throwing a tantrum. That’s when I knew.”  
  
Dr. Smith didn’t release her hands yet, but Rose wasn’t so sure that she wanted him to. In fact, she thought that he might not want to let her go either. It must have been such a comforting experience to finally have human contact aside from his assistant in such a long while. Normally, she would be alarmed by such forwardness but Dr. Smith’s genuine concern warmed her heart so she let it be. Plus, she could be dreaming and why not just enjoy being held by a handsome man.  
  
Rose’s cheeks pinked.  
  
She couldn’t fool herself anymore; Rose found that she was indeed very attracted to this strange and fascinating man she just met. A man who might not be real or even alive anymore. Yes, because that’s healthy.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Rose continued her story. “After that I had to be careful about what I said around people, but even then they could tell that I was a little strange. My mum was there to protect me from the worst of it I guess, but things still seeped through. I wasn’t even in the double digits yet when I met the head of what would become Torchwood. He was quite a bit young then, just moved into the area after he lost his job, but he was wonderful and fit right in with our strange family.”  
  
“He must mean a lot to you.”  
  
She smiled shakily. “Yeah. He found out about my ability and didn’t judge me for it. In fact, he said that it made me unique and I shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Told me to hold my head up high and be proud of everything that makes me who I am.”  
  
Dr. Smith smiled brightly. “Quite right, too.”  
  
Rose was about to say something back when her throat suddenly constricted, cutting off her air supply. She choked.  
  
Distantly she could hear Dr. Smith frantically trying to help her but it did no good as black blotted out her vision and her eyes rolled back into her head as she passed out. If she’d been more aware, she would have noticed the irony of falling asleep in a dream.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Her lungs were starved for oxygen as she came to, heaving in deep breaths. Eyes burning from tears and the lack of air, Rose panted as she sat up. She ran her hands over herself to make sure that she was all there.  
  
It didn’t make any sense.  
  
What had she just experienced?  
  
Rose could not tell if it had actually been real or just a wild figment of her imagination, but whatever just happened had almost caused her to suffocate. That was disturbing. It had also never happened before since she discovered her ability.  
  
Maybe this house really was haunted with the ghosts of its past.  
  
Getting off the bed, Rose took some shaky steps to get the blood flowing back into her legs. She had not taken but three steps before Mickey walked into the room.  
  
“Hey,” he said and then his eyes furrowed as he took in her state, “you alright?”  
  
She nodded slowly. “Yeah, ‘m fine. Just had a bit of a scare for a moment there.”  
  
She couldn’t tell him, not yet. Before Rose would explain to anyone about what just happened to her, she needed to know for herself. She silently vowed that if it happened again then she would go to Jack.  
  
Mickey looked skeptical but didn’t press her. He had seen her after some other bad experiences before so he knew that whatever he saw on her face probably told him it was nothing too serious. At least that’s what she hoped he saw.  
  
“Oookay, we just finished getting the EMF baselines for all the rooms up here and are about to start an EVP session. Care to join us? Or have you not finished yet?”  
  
“No! I mean, yes, yes, I’m finished. Didn’t feel anything other than what I had earlier. Just let me grab my stuff and I’ll be right in.” Rose felt compelled to smooth out the sheets on the bed until she realized that they weren’t the same ones she remembered seeing just a few moments ago. Ah. She needed to get a grip on reality.  
  
Once she finished, Rose picked up her bag and followed Mickey into one of the other rooms in the master suite. It was a smaller sitting room with several very strange contraptions in it. Rose almost giggled. They were all so whimsical and she wished that Dr. Smith was truly there so she could ask what each one of them did.  
  
Settling in next to Jake, who was sitting in one of the plush chairs by the far wall, Rose plucked her recorder from her bag and an EMF detector from one of the cases by his feet. They had cameras set up and Mrs. Moore made sure they were the ones with the best night vision and excellent recording. Her own design, of course.  
  
They started their session, each one taking turns with questions. Eventually they noticed that whenever Rose asked a question the EMF readings would spike so they decided to let her do a majority of the questioning after that. They asked about the house and the family at first and then turned to the night of the accident.  
  
“What happened that night?” Rose asked calmly.  
  
The EMF spiked higher than ever.  
  
“Did something go wrong?”  
  
Again it spiked.  
  
“Am I talking to Dr. John Smith or Lee McAvoy?”  
  
Rose felt something brush the hair away from her face and used every reserve in her not to scream. She turned to Mickey and told him to keep the camera trained on her.  
  
“Was Harold Saxon involved with the accident?”  
  
A clatter came from one of the other rooms; it sounded as though something fell over. Jake quickly got to his feet and grabbed a camera off the table. He strolled into the master bedroom and confirmed that something had indeed been knocked over. “Just one of the lamps by the bed.”  
  
He came back into the room and sat down in his chair, but both Mickey and Rose noticed that Jake left his camera behind. Rose pulled out the strange piece of paper from her bag and resumed her questioning.  
  
“What does this say?”  
  
The EMF spiked and Mickey gave Rose an odd look.  
  
“Does this have to do with your machine, Dr. Smith?”  
  
The instant that Rose said “Dr. Smith” something pressed lightly against her hand and if she hadn’t been staring at it she would have sworn that someone was gripping her fingers.  
  
The more questions she directed at the doctor, the more her hand was caressed by an unseen entity.  
  
After a while Rose suggested they try out Mrs. Moore’s newest invention, although there was already something similar to it being used by other paranormal investigators, this one was different. Mrs. Moore stated that it took a while but she managed to get this particular invention to fine tune to certain frequencies much faster than any other EVP recording device. In fact, the device could also pick up frequencies that other EVP devices were incapable of.  
  
They would be able to hear ‘ghost voices’ in real time and interact with an intelligent haunting if it existed. The entire team had been skeptical at first but went out on a limb on this invention. They just hoped it worked.  
  
“Alright, we are going to start a live EVP session and would like any and all people to join us.” Rose said, addressing the whole room. “Now, first question, is there anyone here with us?”  
  
It took a few seconds before the first response came over the monotone voice of the device.  
  
‘Yes.’  
  
Rose smiled a bit and saw that Mickey had to keep from fist punching the air. “Okay,” she continued, “are any of those that are here with us from the Smith family?”  
  
Another ‘yes.’  
  
“Is there anyone here by the name of Dr. John Smith?”  
  
‘Yes.’  
  
Rose felt the hairs on her arms and neck stand up and thought she felt the presence on her hand squeeze her fingers.  
  
“Dr. John Smith, are you still alive?”  
  
Mickey and Jake exchanged concerned looks, but Rose ignored them.  
  
Almost ten seconds passed before they received an answer.  
  
‘Yes.’  
  
Chills crawled up everyone’s spines. The ‘ghost’ thought that it was still alive. It could be that they weren’t sure that they were actually dead, but something about the certainty of the answer got to the occupants. Something about the inflection that was added to the monotone voice just made it seem so real; so alive.  
  
“I…I think Jack wants us to meet downstairs in the foyer within the hour. We should start packing up.” Mickey stuttered hastily.  
  
Jake and Rose readily agreed and quickly gathered everything together, not quite able to shake that feeling of being watched. Rose realized at the last second that Jake had not grabbed the camera by the bed and since the two men had already made their way to stairs, she all but ran to get the camera. She couldn’t lie; she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.  
  
After picking up the camcorder and turning to leave the room, Rose felt something brush gently against her hand again. It was cool, but not all that unpleasant. She whipped around.  
  
There, standing just by the bed, was a black shadowed figure. There was no moon that night so she could barely see it, but it was there.  
  
It began to move towards her.  
  
Taking off like a bullet, Rose all but fell down the steps. She had seen a lot of strange things in her life and this job led to some of the weirdest experiences outside her ability, but never had she seen an actual full body apparition before.  
  
No wonder people were so terrified of them.  
  
The moment she tripped her way onto the floor in the foyer every single one of her teammates rushed over to her, worriedly checking her for any scratches or injuries. Jack tugged her towards him and asked, “Rose! What happened? I haven’t seen you this scared since, well, I really don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this scared before.”  
  
Rose shivered violently. Her nerves were screaming at her to run for her life and never look back, but there was a niggling sensation at the back of her mind telling her that there was something important here.  
  
Something that needed to be fixed.  
  
Jack coddled her in his arms and rubbed his hands over her back, telling her that she would be alright. As her panic subsided Rose pulled out of Jack’s arms with a weak smile and gave the camera to Mickey.  
  
That’s when they realized that the camera was still on and recording and Rose had to explain that she had seen something in the master bedroom. Everyone was stunned; never before had any of their members seen a full on apparition and now they may have recorded evidence of it. Mrs. Moore took the camera to review what happened during those minutes that Rose had left it on. Everyone made certain that she was going to be okay before walking over to where Mrs. Moore had the video set up.  
  
“Alright, here we see Rose going into the room and grabbing the camcorder. She is walking past the bed and-THERE!” She paused the video right as Rose turned to face the bed.  
  
Standing just by one of the intricately carved posts was the tall, shadowy figure.  
  
Everyone was shocked by what they were witnessing; it was video confirmation of what Rose had seen.  
  
Mickey wrapped an arm around her shoulders in comfort. It was disturbing how close she was to that, well, whatever it was. Taking a shuddering breath, Rose leaned into her friend’s shoulder and tried not to think about that experience.  
  
Rose had seen horrific events yet to come and not batted an eyelash, but stick her in a room with a potential dead person floating around as a ghost and she was so terrified that she couldn’t even run straight. Maybe it was comparing apples to oranges, but she had hoped that it would have at least prepared her for something like this.  
  
Jack walked over to them and put his arms around both Mickey and her, whispering, “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out and then we’ll be gone. If anything happens just remember that we’re all here for you. Okay, Rosie-girl?”  
  
Rose simply nodded, but was unable to rid herself of that foreboding feeling of things yet to come.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter! :) I am little nervous about this particular chapter, but I hope you like it.

They quickly packed up all their equipment and waited for Wilf to arrive with the key so he could lock up the estate. As they all took turns keeping an eye on Rose, they pondered what they were going to do for the other nights of the investigation. They were far from done and there was still the matter of Dr. Smith’s workshop. If anything, Rose might have to sit out the rest of the time they were there, but she immediately squashed that plan as she didn’t want to be a handicap on the team.  
  
As dawn crept over the hedges of the front gardens, the team heard a light knock on the door and Wilf’s cheerful voice calling out, “Everyone alive in there?”  
  
Breathing sighs of relief, the entire team grabbed different pieces of equipment to haul back to their vehicles. Wilf poked his head through the door with a wary smile on his face. “Alright?”  
  
“Yeah, just a long night.” Jack gave the older man a disarming grin, hoping to pacify any fears that he might have.  
  
Wilf stepped out of their way, but not before noticing the look on Rose’s face. “You alright, dear?”  
  
Rose, taken aback by the sudden question, fumbled over her words for a moment before answering. “Y—yeah. The house is just a bit…spooky.”  
  
Nodding in agreement, Wilf said, “Yes, it is unnerving to those who haven’t been around it for long. I hope it hasn’t scared you away.”  
  
“Oh no, just a bit shaken, I guess.” Rose smiled at him before nodding and walking away. When she turned back to look at Wilf, she noticed that he was staring at some of the hedges around the estate. His expression was rather grim.  
  
Rose turned to look at them too and she noticed something; the vegetation appeared even more withered and some of the trees had branches cracked in half, limbs dangling by a sliver of wood. The hedges had gaping holes in them that appeared new.  
  
Turning her attention towards Jack, Rose gave him a skeptical look, questioning silently about the night’s events. He avoided direct eye contact and she knew that something was going on. Shuffling over to him, just as he was about to climb into the front seat of his car, Rose blocked his path, glaring and crossing her arms firmly over her chest. “Talk.”  
  
He attempted to edge around her to get to the driver’s side door but she was having none of it. “Something happened last night, other than that apparition. What occurred outside?”  
  
“Rose, now is not the best time—”  
  
“Do not try to weasel out of this one, Jack Harkness! If I don’t get you to talk about this now, it’s very unlikely you’ll ever speak about it again,” Rose hissed.  
  
Pressing his lips into a thin line, Jack leaned against the car and gestured for Ianto to catch a ride with Mickey. Rose took that as her cue to get into Jack’s vehicle and she hopped into the passenger’s seat. They both waited for everyone else to wrap up before pulling out, leaving Wilf to lock up.  
  
As all the other cars took off for the B & B, Jack kept driving along the country roads, still completely silent. Rose grew tired of his evasiveness and cleared her throat pointedly and Jack sighed.  
  
“Fine. We…witnessed some things last night that we weren’t sure we really saw. Thing is, you know that animal noise that Mickey had us listen to?”  
  
Rose nodded. “Yeah.”  
  
He grimaced slightly, not looking at her. “Well, we heard it again last night.”  
  
“Okay.” She was confused, wasn’t that what they were after?  
  
Jack pulled the car over onto a small outlet just off the side of the road before continuing. “We heard it without any equipment. It was about ten meters away from us, but it was loud and clear. For a moment…we thought…”  
  
“You thought what?” Rose prodded him.  
  
Jack swallowed roughly, a stricken look on his face. “We thought we heard it…say something. It wasn’t in any language we could recognize but it was so distinct that we couldn’t help but wonder if…if it was trying to communicate at first.”  
  
Communication. Intelligent haunting. Possibly demonic? All these thoughts whorled around in Rose’s mind. What could any of this mean? First she sees an apparition and now she finds out that something may have happened with Jack and Ianto.  
  
Now that she thought about it, Ianto seemed very eager to leave the Smith Estate earlier in the day. What had they seen? Rose couldn’t help but think back to what happened in the master bedroom when she had her…dream? None of this made sense. Was John Smith still alive? What was the creature that haunted the estate grounds?  
  
What was the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomenon’ and was it connected to the occurrences at the estate?  
  
Knowing that it was unlikely Rose would actually get any information about the ‘Phenomenon’ from Jack, she decided to at least get his opinion on it. Maybe the creature was related to the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomenon’ somehow? It was worth a try.  
  
“Jack?”  
  
Turning to face her, his eyes squinted in the light of rising sun. “Yeah?”  
  
“Do you think…do you think that all this, what’s happening at the estate, is connected to…”  
  
Frowning, Jack lifted a brow in confusion. “Connected to what?”  
  
“Connected to…the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomenon’?”  
  
Rose could tell the instant the words were out of her mouth that Jack knew exactly what she was talking about. His eyes narrowed and his expression became hard and cold. “Rose, answer me this and do not lie. How do you know about the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomenon’?”  
  
She swallowed, suddenly unsure if she should have even brought it up in the first place. Quietly, almost too hard for even her to hear, Rose whispered, “We came across it yesterday. In the city hall archives. Dr. Smith’s aunt, Ushas Saxon, had been working on it before she was sent to prison. I was just wondering if you thought it might be connected.”  
  
Jack’s hands convulsed on the steering wheel as he tried to control his emotions. Rose was more a little apprehensive to hear his response. He was quiet for only a few seconds before speaking. “Ianto told you about it, am I correct?”  
  
Rose hesitated. “Yes, but he didn’t tell me much.”  
  
“He shouldn’t have told you anything at all,” he hissed.  
  
Rose was furious. “And why not?! Judging by the way you’re responding I’m going to guess that it may be attached to what happened at that estate.”  
  
“It’s not the estate that it’s attached to, it’s y—” He cut himself off before turning away to look out the driver’s side window towards the horizon. “It’s going to storm tonight.”  
  
Thrown by the complete change in direction of the conversation, Rose spluttered, “What? No, I mean, what were you going to say?”  
  
“Rose, there are some things that are better left in the past to be forgotten.” Jack rubbed his face with his hand and avoided looking at her. A cold chill ran up her spine at the way Jack emphasized his words; he wasn’t telling her something again and she was not going to let this one go.  
  
“Jack, what is the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomenon’ really? Something happened last night, something that none of us can explain and I just know that whatever Ushas Saxon was working on is somehow connected. So talk.” If she were standing, Rose would have had her hands on her hips with a dangerous expression that would have done Jackie Tyler proud.  
  
The sun was now in both of their eyes, but they ignored it as they had a stare down in the car. Jack finally broke eye contact. “Fine. My boss is going to have my head for this but you’re already involved so there is nothing else for it.”  
  
Rose grinned at her victory. “Okay then, what is it and how is it connected to Dr. Smith?”  
  
She really wanted to know more about the spiky haired man, but wasn’t entirely sure if he was even connected to the whole thing, despite being Ushas’ nephew. He was so intriguing and Rose hoped that he hadn’t been involved with his aunt’s work. At least not directly.  
  
Jack leaned down and pressed his forehead against the steering wheel in frustration. “It was something not too different from Project MK-ULTRA during the Cold War era in the United States. It was secret testing that had been performed on patients who were not aware that they were even being tested on.”  
  
Rose gasped. She had heard of the MK-ULTRA programs and what types of testing had been done using different kinds of drugs and hypnosis. It was about mind control.  
  
“You mean…they tested on unwitting subjects?” Rose prodded.  
  
Jack swallowed before looking her straight in the eye. “Yes. The Bad Wolf Phenomenon was tested in a similar manner utilizing both hypnosis and drugs and…” He trailed off and rubbed his eyes with his palms.  
  
“And?” Rose had to know; he couldn’t keep her in the dark about this.  
  
“And a newly discovered energy source.”  
  
“What energy source?”  
  
Jack groaned and whispered the next sentence in a very quiet voice, as though someone else might be listening. “Huon energy; they were dosing patient’s drinks with Huon particles.”  
  
Rose was confused. “What are ‘Huon’ particles? I’ve never heard of them.”  
  
“At first, no one outside of those who were working with the Bad Wolf Phenomenon knew about them. At the time, there had been virtually no knowledge of these strange particles and what they were capable of except…”  
  
“Jack, just tell me!” Rose was getting fed up with Jack’s constant pauses.  
  
“The Smith Family.”  
  
Silence filled the car.  
  
“What?” Rose gasped. “What do you mean?”  
  
Jack reached over and grabbed one of Rose’s hands in his, giving it a comforting squeeze. “The Smith Family has been very prominent in the sciences for generations and the first person to discover Huon energy was Dr. Smith’s grandfather, but it was Ushas Saxon who really researched it. She was a large part of the Blaidd Drwg Project.”  
  
Rose furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she recognized something Jack mentioned. “The ’Blaidd Drwg Project’? I remember coming across something under that name. Wasn’t there another member of the family by the name Romana who was involved with it too?”  
  
Jack looked impressed that she knew so much about the project already. “Yes, although she was more involved with the legalities of the project and pulled out before Mrs. Saxon got fully immersed. They were not, shall we say, on very good terms.”  
  
Silence stretched between them as Rose pondered over everything Jack had just told her. There was one thing that she had to know. “Is that why you took this job, Jack? Do you think Dr. Smith was involved?”  
  
Rose felt defensive of John, er, Dr. Smith. For what reasons she didn’t know, but felt deep in her gut that he wasn’t a part of the illegal actions of the ‘Blaidd Drwg Project.’ He wasn’t like Ushas Saxon or her son.  
  
Jack sat there, not looking at her anymore and Rose knew she had her answer. She was angry, not just because he lied to her, but because he was still withholding information. “What else, Jack? What else haven’t you told me?”  
  
“Rose, please—”  
  
“Don’t ‘Rose’ me! What else have you been hiding from us, Jack?! This isn’t about any paranormal investigation, is it?” She slammed her fist against the dash, fury radiating off her. “What about the ‘out of body’ stuff?”  
  
This caught Jack’s attention as he turned his focus on her, his eyes unreadable. “Rose, what do you know about that?” His voice was low and deadly calm.  
  
Something wasn’t right.  
  
“I only know what Ianto told me. He said that the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomenon’ happened when someone was induced into an out of body experience on a different plane and they were able to create a second body in that plane of existence. What else is there?” She waited for him to respond, biting her lip as anxiety built up in her gut.  
  
Is that what happened to her? Was she experimented on? But she had never been in a hospital long enough to become involved, had she? None of it made sense.  
  
“Rosie, you know I would do anything to protect you, right?” Jack inquired, his expression still guarded.  
  
Rose sighed. “Of course, but what does that have to do with this?”  
  
“I would do anything within my abilities to keep you safe, even if it meant protecting you from yourself.” Jack said carefully, his expression finally softening as he looked at her.  
  
Shivers ran down her spine as Rose asked, “What do mean ‘protecting me from myself?’ Jack what, what…” She was scared; terrified of what his answer might be.  
  
“Rose, you were not one of the patients. I know you’re thinking about it, but…” He paused as he worried his lip in frustration. “This is difficult to explain. Please, do not think that I was trying to keep you in the dark about this forever; however, I didn’t want you to find out until absolutely necessary. You were not one of the patients because you were not born when the testing happened, but—” He stopped and squeezed her hand.  
  
“But what?” Rose asked breathlessly. It felt as though there were a vice around her lungs and she couldn’t breathe properly.  
  
Jack swallowed. “But your father was.”  
  
“My father? What do you mean?” The thoughts racing through her mind made her panic. Her father? He was one of the patients? What had they done to him?!  
  
“He was in one of the hospitals they were testing at. You remember when your mum told you he spent a long time in the hospital once because he was sick?” Jack asked her, his hand still holding hers just in case. “It was two years before you were born.”  
  
“Yeah.” Of course she remembered. Her mother told her everything she could about her late father Pete, who passed away within a year of her birth. Her mother raised her alone, but she had some support from family friends like Jack, who met Jackie after he lost his job. He became very close to Rose and Jackie over the years and even helped Jackie stay afloat in times of crisis.  
  
“He was being given a variety of drugs that he was told were helping him, but it was actually some of the Huon particle solution that was being given to some of the other patients in the same ward.” Starting the car again, Jack left it in park as he finished what he was going to say. “Your mum became pregnant two months after your dad’s release from the hospital and a few weeks later the Blaidd Drwg Project was discontinued.”  
  
With those last words, Jack pulled out of the little outlet on the side of the road and they drove back to Rassilon’s Bed & Breakfast. Rose was quiet for a while before asking Jack one question that bothered her about the conversation they just had. “What does that mean for me?”  
  
Jack lips pursed and he didn’t look at her. “It means that you’re not an experiment. Rose, you are unique and different from those around you, but that doesn’t make you a victim of their project. You are Rose Tyler. My Rosie. I didn’t mean for it sound like I was trying to protect you from your abilities, but I’m afraid of what other people, namely those who were attached to the original project, might do if they discovered what you are capable of. I am not going to let someone hurt you or your mother. I am going to protect you, Rosie. Don’t ever doubt that.”  
  
His words were earnest and he squeezed her hand again to emphasize his promise.  
  
“Who also knows about my father’s connection to the project?” She asked.  
  
Jack sighed. “Ianto and Mrs. Moore, but they love you and are helping me keep you safe. Mickey and Jake are protecting you too, though they aren’t aware of the exact circumstances behind what happened to your father.”  
  
“We have to tell them, Jack. There are some things that happened that I need to tell you too. Things that happened last night,” Rose said.  
  
Eyes furrowing, Jack turned towards her for a second before pulling into the parking lot of the B & B. “Rose, what happened? Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” He was worried and slightly panicked.  
  
“I thought I was hallucinating because of what I found out earlier that day. I didn’t know there might be a possibility it could all be true!” She was aggravated, but mostly nervous about how Jack would react to what happened to her.  
  
If what she saw and experienced was real, there was the possibility that Dr. John Smith was real and that changed everything. This was no longer a paranormal investigation. She wasn’t sure what it was, but things were going to change and something still needed to be done about the Smith Estate no matter what. Things were getting worse and shrugging it off would only cause more damage.  
  
“Rose, tell me exactly what you saw. Please. This is very important,” he pleaded, eyes desperate.  
  
She felt uncomfortable all of a sudden, more so than earlier. It wasn’t how she expected to tell him, but he was right; she needed to tell someone about what she saw.  
  
“I think I had an out of body experience,” she said, slightly hysterical.  
  
It wasn’t until Jack wrapped his arms around her that she realized she was crying. The entire night she held it together, brushed it off, but now it was all hitting her. Rose never realized how terrified she was; not knowing what was happening or if it was even real, but it was starting to make some sense. Pressing her forehead to Jack’s shoulder, Rose sobbed.  
  
A knock on the window caught their attention; Mickey was standing beside Rose’s door looking incredibly worried. Wiping away a few stray tears, Rose thanked Jack before unbuckling her seatbelt and climbing out of the car.  
  
Mickey was staring at Jack as he wrapped his arms around Rose. “What happened?” he asked.  
  
“There are some things we need to discuss. Tell everyone to meet in my room.” Jack grabbed some of the more expensive equipment and brought it inside the B & B. Mickey held onto Rose as they followed after him.  
  
“Rose, are you okay?” Mickey asked her. He looked a bit panicked at seeing her cry. It had been such a long time since she wept; the last time she had done it front of Mickey was over Jimmy Stone.  
  
She hesitated. “I will be. I just, let’s just get inside. Please, Mickey?”  
  
He nodded and helped her into the foyer of the B & B because she was shaking harder than ever.  
  
This entire investigation was beginning to overwhelm Rose and she really just wanted to get some sleep, but there were still things that needed to be discussed.  
  
Everyone assembled in Jack and Ianto’s room, setting up the equipment just the same as the night before. Rose could see in everyone’s expression that they knew something was off, but after her reaction last night, it didn’t come as a surprise.  
  
Jack cleared his throat as everyone settled in. “Everyone settled? Alright, well, there are some topics we need to discuss.”  
  
Rose felt Mickey tighten his arms around her, rubbing soothing circles on her back.  
  
Shooting her a quick glance, Jack began his side of events about what Rose had experienced and the basic nature of the ‘Bad Wolf Phenomenon.’ Not surprisingly, those who had never heard of the phenomenon were taken aback by the whole thing. Just as Jack said, Mrs. Moore and Ianto were not surprised by any of it because of their own prior knowledge.  
  
Jack was still withholding information, but Rose was too tired to press him on it. When all was said and done, everyone sat in stunned silence as Rose recalled her side of events that night.  
  
“You saw him?” Mrs. Moore asked, her voice incredulous.  
  
Rose nodded, not trusting her voice anymore.  
  
“Blimey.” Mickey stared at his friend as she shifted uncomfortably in his arms. “Rose, why didn’t you say anything earlier? Well, I can probably guess why. Never mind. Are you okay? Do you want us to take turns keeping an eye on you?”  
  
Not able to stifle a yawn, Rose shook her head, but Jack jumped in before she could say anything. “Rose, why don’t you get some sleep? I’m going to be analyzing some of the evidence we received last night with Mrs. Moore and Mickey. Jake will bring up some food later. We’ll all get some sleep when we’re done. Ianto, would you?”  
  
“Of course. I’ll just be researching on the internet for a while. Rose, it’s best you stay where we can keep an eye on you. Just in case.” Ianto walked over to Rose and laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly.  
  
Rose would have protested to the whole plan any other time, but she really didn’t want to be alone and exhaustion was quickly sapping her will to argue. She nodded and let Mickey guide her back to her room.  
  
Ianto came up a few moments later with his laptop and some biscuits, Mickey said a few words to him before leaving. By the time Ianto set up his things on the desk, Rose had washed her face and changed. He offered her a biscuit, which she took gladly. She wasn’t all that hungry, but something in her stomach was better than nothing.  
  
Rose lay down on her bed and listened to Ianto’s rhythmic typing, her eyes drooping. It wasn’t long before she drifted off.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is still un-betaed so any and all mistakes are my own. Feedback is wonderful, too! Enjoy! :D

The ground beneath her was cold and unyielding, the air frigid and unmoving. It was pitch black, a void. Fear seized her breath as she tried to reign in her emotions. It felt like…emptiness. A cold, bleak emptiness. It was nothing.  
  
Rose was nowhere at all.  
  
She stood up, legs shaking as though she had just finished climbing several dozen staircases. Dizziness assaulted her and Rose had to swallow a few times to keep from vomiting. That was impossible, of course, because this was a dream. It had to be.  
  
Wrapping her arms around her, Rose began to trek slowly across the empty dead space to see if there was anything else to it. The chill was seeping into her bones and she couldn't prevent the violent shivers from wracking her form. Nothing seemed to change as she moved about. Cold, dark, endless black.  
  
Something howled.  
  
The sound scared Rose so badly that a scream tore from her throat. What was that? Which direction had it come from? Was it nearby?  
  
Something glowing was coming towards her.  
  
She only blinked for a second when suddenly a golden wolf stood before her. She froze, terrified that it would attack her.  
  
It observed her, tilting its head to the side. Deciding that it had seen enough, the golden creature turned around and begun to walk away. Rose watched it for a few seconds, terror gripping her lungs. Even if it was a dream, a wolf was a wolf. She couldn't predict what it would do if it decided that it was hungry.  
  
The creature stopped and looked back at her. It jerked its head in a manner that Rose could only assume was to get her to follow.  
  
Did this creature want to help her?  
  
Swallowing her fear, she decided to follow after it at a fair distance; just enough that if it changed its mind she might have a head start. Although she would never be able to outrun the wolf at least she could try.  
  
They kept walking for an undetermined amount of time before another glow caught her eye up ahead. Rose couldn't see it very well so she squinted her eyes a bit, but that only seemed to make it worse. She blinked and, just like with the wolf, the source of the soft glow was only meters away.  
  
It was a rock. No, coral.  
  
How strange.  
  
Rose felt warmer the closer she got to it. Whatever the coral was made of was giving off a pleasant heat. It felt so good.  
  
The wolf walked around the coral and lay down, wrapping itself around the glowing coral. Rose chanced a step closer to the coral, feeling as though she should be as close to it as possible. A sadness seemed to emanate from the coral itself, but it wasn't just that. There was loneliness, happiness, melancholy, anger, confusion, and a myriad of other complex emotions spilling forth and Rose couldn't stop herself from walking up to the coral and touching it.  
  
And it was as though she had ignited a fire.  
  
Rose gasped as the coral doubled in size, branches of new coral forming from the existing ones.  
  
Pure joy shot through her body as the coral grew, its limbs twisting and shaping. Two large branches twisted into a semicircle around Rose's waist; loose enough that she didn't feel smothered and could escape easily, but comforting like a mother's embrace.  
  
The wolf was no longer lying down, instead rubbing its head against Rose's thigh. Reaching a hand down, she scratched it behind the ears. It seemed to really like that. Rose giggled. She no longer feared this creature.  
  
Soon, Rose's eyes began to droop and she couldn't fight off the exhaustion. For a moment, she thought she heard the most beautiful song she had ever heard before she knew no more and slipped away from the dark void.  
  
Someone was humming In the Summertime somewhere beside Rose as she blinked awake, sun blinding her a bit. It seemed to be at least early afternoon, maybe a little after two.  
  
"About time you woke up. We're leaving in about an hour to meet with Wilf again so we can take a look at Dr. Smith's workshop." Someone's voice cut through Rose's sleep addled mind as she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. Sitting next to her on the bed was none other than Jack, his lap full of the documents they received from Wilf the first time they met.  
  
"What time is it?" Rose asked.  
  
He gave her a smile. "A little after 2:30, but we have plenty of time. All we're looking at today is the area where Dr. Smith's project was, although Wilf mentioned that it is a bit bigger than we anticipate. Said it was 'bigger on the inside' or something like that. Reckon we should be careful while we're down there anyway."  
  
She nodded and rolled off the bed, heading to the loo to wash up.  
  
While in the shower, Rose thought over the strange dream she had. What had she just witnessed? Was it real, just like what happened with John?  
  
Shaking her head clear, Rose brought her thoughts back to what she needed to be focusing on—the job at hand. She grabbed a towel before realizing that she left her change of clothes in the main room. Cracking the door open, Rose spotted Jack looking at a document with an odd expression on his face. "What is it?"  
  
He started a bit and Rose couldn't help the small grin at his slightly shocked expression. "Oh, nothing. Just something I thought…but no. It couldn't be. Don't worry about it. So, hungry? I brought some croissants that Ianto bought at the local bakery earlier. Figured you'd like a nibble." He lifted an eyebrow suggestively.  
  
"Oh, stop it." She laughed good-naturedly and shook her head at his antics. "Any chance of a decent meal before we leave? Could go for some chips."  
  
"There was a chip shop not too far from the bakery. We'll stop by before we meet with Wilf." Jack turned his attention towards a different document than earlier and muttered something about her obsessive love of chips.  
  
She stuck her tongue out at him before walking over to her suitcase. Grabbing a pair of jeans, a purple shirt, knickers and matching bra, Rose wandered back into the en suite to change. She opted for very little make-up and a low ponytail to top off her look.  
  
When she walked back into the main room Jack was gone, leaving only the bag of croissants and a cup of tea that Ianto had probably brought up a few minutes earlier. Smiling to herself, Rose grabbed a croissant and the tea before plopping herself on the bed. She checked her phone to see that her mum called and left a message.  
  
It was just recent gossip; Bev's niece was getting married soon, Harold the Grocer asked her out on a date that Friday, and Shareen wanted to go clubbing as soon as Rose was back in town. Smiling to herself, Rose called her mother back but didn't receive an answer. Oh, right, she had a few hair appointments till five. Shrugging, she left a message for her mother to call her back when she was done with her last client.  
  
Rose flipped through a few emails looking for anything important, but it was mostly just ads and spam mail. Finishing her croissant, she stood up and stretched her limbs before walking over to the window. The imposing structure of the Smith Estate loomed over the rest of the town, a trickle of apprehension from the night before returned full force as she gazed at the home. It was a strange fit for such a town as Gallifrey. Shrugging it off, Rose wandered over to the en suite again to check for any lingering crumbs and quick brush of her teeth.  
  
Grabbing her essentials for the rest of the night, Rose made sure to not leave anything behind that might be valuable and that was not limited to the expensive electronics. Something told Rose that if she left behind any of the important documents concerning the case, they would all be gone by the time they returned. She knew enough to not ignore this feeling and made a note to inform Jack. They couldn't risk it.  
  
Checking the room one last time, Rose strode out into the hallway almost running head first into one of the maids. Apologizing quickly, she walked around the maid and down the stairs leading to the foyer. The rest of the team was huddled together by the doorway, murmuring about the layout for the night. Mickey greeted her as she came over to them.  
  
"You feeling any better?" Mickey asked her quietly.  
  
She smiled. "Much. Actually, I feel better than I have in days."  
  
He returned her smile and gave her a quick hug as Jack finished his conversation with Mrs. Moore. "All right, is everyone ready to go?"  
  
Everyone nodded except for Rose, who pulled Jack to the side to discuss what she felt earlier. He informed her that all the documents were already with Ianto so she needn't worry. After allaying her worries, Jack led everyone outside to the vehicles.  
  
Rose resumed her usual spot in Mickey's vehicle and gave Jack a subtle confirmation that she was okay. As they drove into town, Mickey relayed to her the plan for the day.  
  
First thing was to get some food downtown and discuss who goes where for the investigation that night. Jack, Ianto, and Mrs. Moore would be in the workshop whilst Jake, Mickey, and Rose would take the massive library. Wilf mentioned that sometimes the books moved around or were found open on one of the several tables in the massive atrium the library resided within.  
  
Wilf also mentioned during the tour the day before that sometimes he saw shadows moving through the library when he was outside. It gave him the shivers and usually he left right after he saw one. He could only assume it was Dr. Smith or Lee, his assistant. They both loved their research and, before they disappeared that night ten years ago, he could usually find one of them in the library at all times.  
  
That's where she would be that night, although Rose would have loved to have been with Jack and the others while they investigated the workshop. However, Jack was calling the shots so she didn't get much say in the matter and she really did want to investigate the library. Maybe if they stayed another night, depending how the investigation went later that day, Rose could ask to be in the workshop.  
  
Jack seemed hesitant to even bring Rose in the first place because of what she experienced the night before, but she wouldn't allow him to hole her up in the B & B for the rest of the case. She needed to know more about Dr. John Smith and his family's connection to the Bad Wolf Phenomena.  
  
The team found a few restaurants downtown and grabbed an early dinner before setting off to meet Wilf again. The atmosphere was tense as they pulled up the drive in front of the house. The grounds appeared even more dilapidated than before and most of plants on the property were in an advanced state of decay.  
  
"I have to say, this is a first. Never seen anything like this before," Mickey commented as they stopped right next to Jack's vehicle.  
  
They climbed out and greeted Wilf, who was looking a bit nervous. Rose gave Jack a look and he just shrugged. They filed inside and were once again taken aback by the enormity of the house. Rose was certain that it hadn't looked quite so dark yesterday, but now it was even more ominous than ever.  
  
Wilf led them to the back of the house to a room they hadn't noticed before. Rose commented that she didn't even remember there being a door.  
  
"Perception filter," Wilf said. "Have no idea how it works, but it keeps unwanted individuals from finding the door to his workshop. There is another one that leads outside, but only John knew how to find it."  
  
Well, that was interesting for sure. He must have been some genius if he could create a door that you didn't even know was there unless you knew that it existed. The door itself should stand out, too. It was the only blue door in the house.  
  
Wilf pulled out an odd shaped key and pressed it into the lock. He turned it and then something unusual happened. There was a series of clicks and banging sounds before the door opened inward, revealing stairs that led down and down.  
  
"Ah," Jack said quietly. "Who wants to go first?"  
  
They all shared a nervous laugh before Wilf led them down into the workshop.  
  
It was four flights of stairs later that they found themselves in the largest room in the house. How that was even possible Rose didn't know, but it was absolutely massive. The ceiling appeared to be a dome and there were several tables strewn about throughout the room, but the most impressive part about the room was not the size.  
  
There was a large hole in the floor several feet in diameter. It wasn't very deep, but it was significant and not something you wanted to fall into.  
  
"Woah," Mickey murmured beside Rose. "What the hell did that?"  
  
"The experiment I presume," Rose answered, not taking her eyes off the hole.  
  
Wilf explained that the machine stood right where the hole was until the explosion happened and then it was gone, along with Dr. Smith and Mr. McAvoy.  
  
"Explosion?" Mrs. Moore asked Wilf, eyes surveying a few nearby metal poles that were buried into the floor. "Are you sure?"  
  
Wilf was confused. "Well, yes. Obviously something happened that shook the entire area. Something powerful. Why?"  
  
Mrs. Moore didn't answer right away, but Rose knew she had made a discovery that may have been overlooked in the first investigation. "What do you think it is?" she asked the older woman.  
  
"Hmm, I'm pretty certain it wasn't an explosion. In fact, I would argue that it was an implosion. Something with great gravitational force bent these poles inward, not outward. These poles are made of Dalekanium, I'm almost certain of it. This metal is much stronger than any other metal found on Earth. In fact, it has only been found in meteorites or areas where there were asteroid strikes. It's one of the rarest metals on Earth," Mrs. Moore lectured. "And very dangerous in the wrong hands."  
  
"What do you mean?" Rose asked her.  
  
Mrs. Moore pulled out one of her instruments and began scanning the Dalekanium until the little device gave a shrill wail. "Ah, as I suspected. You see, Rose, this metal can absorb radiation. These rods only have basic levels of radiation that you would find on any object. They must have been used for something else. It's odd. Very odd. Dr. Smith knew what he was doing, that's for sure. You would have to tear up the entire house to get these rods out."  
  
Jack wandered over to Mrs. Moore and they began speaking in low tones. Rose felt wary of standing too close to the rods just in case so she walked over to one of the benches and began sifting through the remaining pieces of metal objects.  
  
"Careful," Wilf said softly as he walked over to her. "Some of these things are a bit sharp."  
  
"I will be. Most of the papers are gone, aren't they?" she asked him.  
  
He nodded. "Whatever the police didn't take is whatever John left at our place. Don't reckon you'll find anything here."  
  
"How did they get in?"  
  
Wilf was confused. "What do you mean? The police?"  
  
"Yeah. Judging by his need for privacy, I reckon Dr. Smith didn't like people poking around his workshop," she said.  
  
"Oh, it was his cousin, Harry. Right piece of work, he is. Practically skipped to crime scene when he heard," Wilf muttered darkly.  
  
Ah, no love lost there, Rose mused. The desk itself appeared to have some damage to it. Large dents were scattered along the surface. "What happened here?" Rose asked Wilf as her fingers traced the large holes.  
  
Wilf just shook his head. "Don't know, but they weren't here the last time I was down here."  
  
"Really? Maybe someone returned after the investigation was over. Someone who didn't find what they were looking for." It should have been a surprise, but Rose had a feeling she knew who it was although the reason why remained a mystery.  
  
"Whoever did this wasn't happy. This place was wiped clean during the investigation," Wilf explained.  
  
"Not everything," Rose murmured as she pulled out the piece of paper with the schematics of the machine. "I have a feeling this may have been one of things he was looking for."  
  
The piece of paper drew the attention of everyone in the room. Jack came over to inspect the wrinkled bit of paper. "Rose, where did you get this?"  
  
"It was in one of the folders Wilf gave us. I think it was stuck between some other pages and that's probably why we missed it the first time. It's his machine." Rose handed Jack the paper.  
  
Jack held it very carefully so as not to damage the already worn page. "Yeah," he breathed softly. His eyes scanned the paper and his eyes widened with shock. "I'd say this is rather important. It's the basic outline for a time machine."  
  
"Wow," Mrs. Moore said from just beside Rose. "That is something alright. He really was working on a time machine."  
  
"Ten to one, Harry Saxon was after this the whole time," Mickey chimed in.  
  
Jack shot him a stern look before looking even closer at the machine's schematic. "Yeah, but it's not just this he was after. Look here." Jack pointed to something in the middle of the console that seemed indistinct and unrecognizable due to a large amount of smudging. "I bet you this what he really wanted."  
  
"What's it supposed to be?" Rose asked him.  
  
A rough sigh escaped Jack as he shook his head. "No idea. I think that's why it's blurred out. Dr. Smith must not have wanted anyone to see what powered the machine other than himself and his assistant. It was most likely done to prevent anyone with malicious intentions from getting a hold of it."  
  
"That makes sense," Rose murmured, staring at the picture with a slight amount of awe. "Do you think he ever got it to work?"  
  
Rolling up the document, Jack just shook his head. "Unlikely. Judging by the schematics of the machine, I'd say Dr. Smith was still in the planning stages. He might have built a rudimentary design of the machine, but it was far from done."  
  
"So someone must have tampered with it if it wasn't even ready to be tested, huh?" Rose asked Jack.  
  
"We don't know that for sure, but I have let a friend of mine know about the possibility of something like that happening. Honestly, the more and more we find out about Mr. Saxon, the more convinced I am about his meddling. Unfortunately, there was no evidence found linking him to the crime," Jack said.  
  
Taking the document and placing it back into the confines of her bag, Rose whispered softly to Jack, "Yet."  
  
His face tightened almost imperceptibly as he turned to look at Rose. "Rose, I don't think it's safe—"  
  
"He could still be alive, Jack. How can we turn our backs on him?"  
  
Sighing, Jack let out a frustrated growl and walked over to the bent poles. He inspected the direction they were pulled in. Rose could tell the very moment he caved in and she smiled inwardly. It may not be safe, but Rose Tyler never let that stop her from helping someone. She was going to help John, er, Dr. Smith, in any way she could.  
  
Jack was still muttering about obstinate blondes, but Rose was too gleeful to retort.  
  
"That's that, then. I'll go with Mickey and Jake to the library while Jack, Mrs. Moore, and Ianto work down here. That alright?" Rose asked the group.  
  
Everyone, including Jack, was surprised at Rose giving orders, but no one made a comment. Jack just restated exactly what Rose had said and told them to get to work.  
  
Practically bouncing up the stairs, Rose stopped quickly and Mickey almost ran headlong into her. "Oi, Rose, careful!"  
  
"Sorry. I just need to talk to Jack for a minute," Rose said as she wormed her way around Mickey and back down the steps.  
  
Jack turned towards her and asked, "What's up?"  
  
"I just wanted to say thank you for letting me do this. I mean, I know you don't want me to get hurt, but I can't let them stay there. Well, wherever there is."  
  
Jack pulled Rose into a hug. "Rosie, promise me you'll be careful. There is a reason that project had been discontinued and I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt somehow. I know you want to help Dr. Smith, but just remember that it's not completely safe what you're planning to do. If anything, and I mean anything, goes wrong get out of there. Have Mickey or Jake with you at all times, okay? Just in case."  
  
"Yes sir," Rose said cheekily, but there was an underlining apprehension in her words. "I'll be careful. And you, too. Okay? This is where it all happened."  
  
"Of course. I am always careful," Jack muttered indignantly. Rose gave him a questionable look and he shrugged. "Okay, most of the time. Now, go do what you need to do." And with that Jack nudged Rose towards the steps leading out of the room and Rose gave him one last smile before following Jake and Mickey up the stairs and off to the library.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is probably one of my favorites so far because someone is returning. ;D Okay, onto the usual stuff. This story is un-betaed so any and all mistakes are my own. Enjoy chapter 8! :D

Rose practically skipped to the library as thoughts about how she was going to contact John again swirled in her head. She couldn’t lie to herself; Rose found Dr. John Smith a very attractive man. Despite that, he was also trapped somewhere he couldn’t escape and Rose was his only contact to the outside world.  
  
In conclusion, John needed her help.  
  
Mickey and Jake followed her into the large atrium of a library and began to set up their equipment, barely a few words spoken between the two of them. Rose could sense Mickey’s wariness at what she was prepared to do, but she didn’t much care at the moment. She didn’t know how, or even why, but Rose could tell that they were running out of time and if they were to help Dr. Smith and his assistant somehow they needed to do it quickly.  
  
Rose found a table near one of the large windows dominating the wall, where she set her things down and grabbed the most comfortable chair she could find. After pulling out the documents she had brought with her, Rose checked in with Mickey and Jake. “You two ready?”  
  
“As we’ll ever be. Rose, I don’t like this,” Mickey said, his brow furrowed in frustration. “Last time didn’t go well and now you suddenly want to do it again? Rose, you heard what Jack said about how dangerous what you’re about to is. Why?”  
  
“I have to. They need me, Mickey. They need my help. I’m the only one capable,” Rose explained as she grabbed an EMF detector from one of the bags.  
  
Mickey growled and slammed one of his fists on a nearby table. “Rose, what the hell? Why can’t this wait until we’re, we’re…” He trailed off, uncertain how to finish his sentence.  
  
“Until we’re what, Mickey? Until we’re certain it won’t hurt me? Until we know what we’re doing? Well, guess what, there is only one way. There wasn’t much discovered about the Bad Wolf Phenomena before now so there isn’t really much to help us. We are running out of time and I can’t let him down, Mickey.” Rose sagged into one of the plush chairs in the room, her own nerves starting to fray a bit as fear crept into her mind. It wasn’t just dangerous, what she was prepared to do, it was also terrifying. There was no way to determine if there was a safer route, but Rose knew she couldn’t just leave John in that other world. She wouldn’t.  
  
Jake, who had been silent for their argument, finally decided to break it up before it got worse. “Rose, Mickey’s just worried. We’re all worried. I know you think that you are the only one risking their life in this, and in many ways you’re right, but we love you and don’t want to see you get hurt. This is very dangerous and I am more than a little apprehensive about your plan. How do we know we can trust Dr. Smith? How do we know he wasn’t involved in the Bad Wolf Phenomena?”  
  
There was a heavy silence that followed Jake’s words and the other two occupants in the room refused to look at one another. Rose was battling with herself over Jake’s questions. She really didn’t know Dr. Smith or whether or not to trust him, but for some reason she did. Maybe it was the way he talked or maybe it was the way Wilf and Donna cared about him so much that just made her believe in this strange man. Whatever the reason, Rose Tyler wasn’t going to abandon Dr. Smith or Mr. McAvoy. She would find a way to help them. “Jake, I’m not changing my mind. I know you guys are worried about me and believe me, I truly appreciate it, but this isn’t about me. They’re trapped in some netherworld or something and we can’t just leave them there. If anything happens, I will get out of there somehow. I will try.”  
  
“And what if you can’t?” Mickey demanded. “What if you get stuck and can’t return, Rose? What am I going to tell Jackie, hm?”  
  
Rose sighed and stood up. She grabbed Mickey into a hug and whispered, “Mickey, I’ll make it back. I promise you. I don’t know how, but I just know we’ll get out of this somehow. Trust me, please.”  
  
Stiffly wrapping his own arms around her, Mickey just grunted and said, “Yeah, alright. But I’m still not happy about it.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
They released one another and Rose gave Jake a strong hug too, murmuring that she would make it back to them. They all agreed that Rose would take the large plush chair she grabbed earlier and place it in the middle of their little operation. They weren’t taking any chances this time. Any sign of trouble and they were going to wake her up.  
  
Rose settled herself in the chair, closed her eyes, and fell.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When she opened her eyes next, she was still sitting in the chair she had drifted off in, except the room around her was different than she remembered it. The chairs were assembled in a different manner and there were open books and papers all over the tables.  
  
Getting up from the chair, Rose noticed that she was all alone in the room. After taking quick inventory of herself, she noticed that some of the documents she had had in her lap when she closed her eyes earlier were now on the floor. They here were with her.  
  
How odd.  
  
A noise from the other side of the room by the doorway caught her attention. Turning, she found herself face to face with a handsome man with dark hair who looked to be in his early thirties. The man was gaping at her. “Wh-who are y-you?” he stuttered.  
  
Rose swallowed and answered, “My name’s Rose. I’m Rose Tyler.”  
  
There was a resounding thump as the book in the man’s hands hit the floor. He began to wave his hands around excitedly and exclaimed, “Y-you’re the w-woman he men-mentioned!”  
  
It suddenly became clear to Rose. “You’re Lee McAvoy.”  
  
“Y-yes.”  
  
A smile bloomed on Rose’s face. “That’s wonderful! I mean, that I’ve made it back here. I’ve come to help.”  
  
“H-help? How?” Lee asked her.  
  
“My team and I are working on it. We are trying to find a way to bring you and Dr. Smith back to our dimension,” Rose explained as she reached down to pick up the documents she dropped. “One half is currently inspecting Dr. Smith’s lab while my two friends, Mickey and Jake, are in the library with me. Or, well, my body. I don’t know if that makes sense.”  
  
Lee just stared at her as though she had just grown three arms and a second head. “Oh,” was all he said.  
  
Rose looked around the room again, taking in the differences compared to the library she just left. Something wasn’t right. “It wasn’t this dark the last time I came here.”  
  
This seemed to jolt Lee out of his stupor as a dark look passed over his face. “No, i-it wasn’t. S-something is h-happening.”  
  
“Yeah, there was a bit of a problem with the vegetation this morning.” Rose walked a bit closer to the windows and gazed outside.  
  
It was inky black and yet, it almost seemed like it was…alive. Rose felt cold prickles up her spine and she stepped away from the window. “Soo, where is Dr. Smith?”  
  
Lee picked up the book he dropped and set it on a nearby table. “Oh, h-he’s in his la-lab.”  
  
“Ah. Can you show me there?” Rose asked him.  
  
He fidgeted a bit before gesturing for her to follow him. They walked along the corridors back towards the blue door that led to Dr. Smith’s lab. Rose noticed that the interior seemed dimmer than she remembered it and stuck a little closer to Lee. When they approached the hallway where Dr. Smith’s lab was located, Rose noticed a foreboding feeling creep up her spine as they neared one of the windows. For some reason Rose couldn’t explain, she felt as though she was being watched.  
  
Something was out there, waiting in the darkness.  
  
Shaking herself of the feeling, Rose focused on Lee’s back as they came to a stop. She peered around him and, if she focused hard enough, she could see the door, but it was almost as though she didn’t want to. Whatever it was Dr. Smith had shielding his lab was rather fascinating.  
  
Lee unlocked the door and she followed him inside, noting the subtle differences between the stairwells of their two dimensions. It was so surreal. They descended into the workshop and as soon as Rose set foot into the room she gasped.  
  
There, standing in the middle of the floor of what should have been a gaping hole, was Dr. Smith’s time machine.  
  
At the sound of her voice, a figure who had been working underneath the machine banged his head as he tried to sit up too quickly. A soft groan followed by quite a bit of shuffling was heard as Dr. Smith wiggled his way out from underneath the console of the machine. “Oh! Oh my, you’re-you’re here! You came back!”  
  
He bounced to his feet, flush with excitement, and bounded over to Rose. He surprised her by wrapping her in a hug, which she returned, infected with his joy. After a few moments he pulled away only slightly as he looked at her. “Hello.”  
  
“Hello,” she said as she smiled widely.  
  
“Dr. Sm-Smith,” Lee interrupted. “Wh-what’s happening?”  
  
John released Rose’s arms and turned towards his assistant. “Ah, well, Miss Rose here has, ah, how are you here?”  
  
Rose’s smile faltered as the conversation turned to her. “Well, it’s a bit complicated and I was hoping you might have some answers that we do not.”  
  
“What do you mean?” John asked her.  
  
She hesitated. “The thing is I have always been a bit…different. Yeah, that’s probably the best way to describe my abilities. I have always been able to perceive things that others could not. I could see events that haven’t happened yet as well as events that happened many years ago. I didn’t know why until I came here to Gallifrey.”  
  
John motioned for her to sit at one of the tables as he grabbed a few chairs for them. Once they had settled, Rose continued with her explanation. “When I first met you, I had no idea I could cross over to other worlds or dimensions. In fact, I was more than a little terrified the first time it happened.”  
  
“It is rather unnerving the first time you arrive here,” John murmured.  
  
Rose gave him a wan smile and said, “Yeah, it was a little scary. Anyway, earlier that day we had gone in search about some of the history of the Smith Estate and found out some interesting facts about your home and family history.”  
  
At the mention of his family, John’s jaw tightened a bit and he seemed to withdraw into himself. “And what did you find?”  
  
“We discovered some things about your aunt and her connection to the Bad Wolf Phenomenon.” Rose let the information sink in before continuing. “After my first meeting with you, my friend as well as boss explained my family’s connection with her experiments, particularly my father’s connection. He was one of the patient’s involved with the experimentation of huon energy.” Rose stopped as John jumped to his feet, his hands tearing at his hair. “What is it?”  
  
He stopped and whipped around to face her. “Your father was one of the patients in that hospital. You…you were born after those experiments, weren’t you?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
John kicked one of the tables and shoved several of the papers off. “And that’s why you can cross over. Damnit. She couldn’t leave well enough alone, could she? Damn her.”  
  
“What? What is it? What do you know? John, please!” Rose begged him. “How much do you know about the Bad Wolf Phenomenon?”  
  
Scrubbing his face in frustration, John slowly made his way back over to his seat. He slumped in his chair, a tormented look in his eyes. “More than I care to. Rose, what you are doing is dangerous. Unheard of, actually. There is a chance you might never wake up.”  
  
“I know,” she said softly. “But I couldn’t just leave you here.”  
  
“And what? What can you do to save us by trapping yourself here too, Rose? This is beyond reckless,” John bit out as he reached for her hand.  
  
The feel of his warm hand in hers comforted Rose. It felt like it was meant to be there. She relished the feel of his skin against hers and when she stole a glance in his direction, she saw that he was just as affected by it. It felt right, being with John. Being by his side. Never had Rose been this caught up in someone before, but something about him made her want to know him better. “I know it’s reckless, John, but how could I just walk away? Something is changing here and I don’t think it’s for the better.”  
  
At her assumption, John frowned and looked towards his machine. “About that, I think you’re right. Something is happening, but I don’t know what.”  
  
“That’s why I’m here, John. What caused your machine to malfunction in the first place?” Rose asked, squeezing his hand.  
  
John’s mouth fell open for a moment and he looked quite dazed, staring at their entwined fingers. And just like that, he snapped out of it and seemed to consider her question carefully. “I’ve been wondering that myself and I think it was because my directional stabilizers were removed. I found them on a desk nearby even though I was positive I had put them in a few days earlier. I thought Lee had removed them but…”  
  
“I di-didn’t. It w-wasn’t m-me,” Lee said with a frown.  
  
John nodded knowingly, but didn’t comment further. Rose clenched her other fist, the hand not currently being caressed by John Smith, and a thought came to her. “Do you think it could have been someone else? Someone like Harold Saxon?”  
  
John’s eyes hardened at the name and he stood up, releasing Rose’s hand, and began to pace. He was silent for several moments before growling, “Yes, I believe it probably was Harry.”  
  
Rose held her breath, hoping the man would elaborate. Lee looked incredibly nervous as he watched his boss pace almost violently around the room. “If it w-was him, Dr. Sm-Smith, why did h-he do it?”  
  
“I don’t know! I don’t know why Harry does the things he does. When we were children he seemed fine, but one day, I don’t know, everything just changed. Ever since then he’s been trying to one up me, but it wasn’t until he found out about my project that he became threatening,” John explained as he plopped down in his chair again. He rubbed his face with both hands before grabbing Rose’s hand again, as though it were a lifeline. “I really don’t know, Lee. I wish I did.”  
  
Rose squeezed his knee in comfort as she tried to connect all the variables that led to the accident. If Harold Saxon had been the one to remove the dimensional stabilizers, how had he managed to force the machine to activate?  
  
John must have been thinking along those same lines as he said quietly, “He attached some sort of automatic switch on the console, forcing it to start up. He rewired parts of my machine somehow when I wasn’t home. I shouldn’t have had it so well assembled in my lab, but it was the best place for it.”  
  
“What do you mean?” Rose asked.  
  
John grinned halfheartedly at her before answering, “This house sits on a rift. A rift in the fabric of universe, in a way. It’s acts kind of like a petrol station for my machine. Powers up the energy cells.”  
  
“A rift? But how could you possibly harness that kind of energy?”  
  
Lee looked about ready to cut in, obviously nervous about sharing such classified information, but John merely waved him off. “There is a sort of…plant, I guess you could call it, powering my machine. It thrives on the rift, feeds off the time energy. Somehow this little plant is able to connect between our world and what we refer to as the “Time Vortex.” It’s a kind of gateway between our dimension and time itself, if that makes sense.”  
  
“A plant,” Rose whispered as a thought suddenly occurred to her. “You mean, like a coral plant?”  
  
Both Lee and John started at her words, faces incredulous. John was the first one to find his voice. “You-you know about—”  
  
“About this, you mean?” Rose held up the document with the machine’s schematics on it. The one with the drawing of the coral and the desk with the center smudged out. “It was in Wilf’s folders. He said you often left stuff over at his home and I guess this was one of them.”  
  
John leapt out of his seat with a cry of joy, pulling Rose to her feet for a hug. “Oh you wonderful, amazing human being! Oh, what would we do without you? And you brought it here, too!”  
  
Rose laughed as he picked her up off her feet and swung her around; his joyous laughter filling the room. She was surprised that such a skinny man could be so strong. The thin cut of his frame obviously hid the deceptive strength underneath his suit and tie and Rose could feel the hardness of his muscles through his shirt as he held her to him. A blush crept up her neck and cheeks as other, not so pure thoughts began to cloud her mind.  
  
John looked a little abashed at his antics as he set Rose on her feet again, ears turning red as he gave her a sheepish smile. “Thank you, Rose, for bringing this. I thought I had lost it and that would have been a major setback to my project. Of course, being trapped in a parallel or pocket universe is probably a bigger setback at the moment.”  
  
“Parallel universe? Is that where we are?” Rose hadn’t known what to consider this strange world that wasn’t a world could actually be, but John’s assumption kind of made sense. They were obviously somewhere that no other human had been, so far as they knew, and it looked so much like their world. At least the house did.  
  
John nodded as he scanned the paper, his eyes darting about as he read the strange circular writing on the back. “Yeah, so far as I can tell. I mean, it’s not like I can run any actual tests with so little of my equipment. I only have what came with us and that’s not much. I don’t really know how we’re going to get out of here either.”  
  
Lee seemed to wilt at John’s words, his entire posture sagging sadly as his hand slid into his pocket. When he removed it, there was a little blue velvet box clasped in his fist. He was devastated and Rose’s heart went out to him. “That was meant for Donna, wasn’t it?”  
  
Lee almost jumped when he heard Rose’s question, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “Ye-yes, it was. I wa-was going to ask h-her on her bi-birthday. Now I’ll ne-never know.”  
  
Walking up to the larger man, Rose grabbed his hand and said, “I can let her know, if you’d like. We are seeing them again tomorrow and I can talk to her in private.”  
  
“Oh, no, that’s okay. She’s pr-probably moved on,” he said sadly, before putting the box back into his pocket.  
  
“She deserves to know.” John walked over to them, his lips in a thin line. “Donna should at least know, Lee. Let Rose talk to her. Tell her something that only you would know.”  
  
The other man considered John’s words, conflict warring on his face. He finally appeared to come to a decision and pulled Rose aside, whispering something in her ear. Rose smiled and told him she would talk to Donna as soon as she could. Lee thanked her and it seemed to lighten his spirits a bit. After that, the trio set about discussing possible ways to explain how they got there in the first place along with ideas about how to get back.  
  
John was clearly frustrated at the lack of equipment he had as well as something else Rose knew he wasn’t talking about. “John, what about the coral? Where is it?”  
  
“I—” He stopped and looked even more unsure than before. “I don’t have it. I have no idea where it is and without it…without it—”  
  
“Without it you’re trapped,” Rose finished for him.  
  
He nodded as defeat colored his features. The sadness and disappointment that radiated off him made Rose want to grab him into a hug and tell him not to give up. They weren’t defeated yet and Rose wouldn’t let him or Lee just accept things as they were. “Well, we’ll just have to find it, won’t we?”  
  
He scoffed. “Yeah, and how can we do that? We are trapped here, Lee and I, and you’re not much better off.”  
  
“Yeah, but I can leave. My team just needs to know what they’re looking for and—”  
  
“And you can bring it here next time you cross over,” John said, a bit more life in his voice. “Oh, but that’s brilliant!”  
  
Jumping up, John pulled Rose into a hug again. They both laughed joyfully as their plan came together and even Lee was looking excited. Next thing to do was for Rose to somehow find the missing coral and bring it back here, but that would prove much more difficult than any one of them imagined.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello! I'm back! :D Sorry about the wait, but here is the newest chapter! Yeah! Okay, same thing as always, this story is un-betaed so any and all mistakes are my own.  
> Enjoy! :D  
> Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of it's characters.

“So you see, the coral is the only thing that connects my machine to what is considered the Time Vortex.” John was bouncing around his workshop explaining the details of his work to Rose, who was happily laughing along with him. “Without it, my machine is inoperable. The coral is the connection and the fuel that makes it work.”

Rose nodded along as he explained, devising different strategies to figure out how to find the coral. She would need Jack’s help as well as his connections if it came down to it. They were running out of time and who knew what would happen should things get much worse. What also plagued her was the creature that seemed to haunt the grounds. How much danger did it pose to not only her team but John and Lee as well? Was it also from this dimension or from somewhere else entirely? Rose thought hard about the information they found earlier and wondered if there was anything more to the initial experiments than they previously assumed. “John, you never did tell me what you know about the Bad Wolf Phenomenon.”

Startled by her question, John accidentally dropped the book in his hand. Rose giggled as he reached for the fallen book, a blush staining his cheeks. “Ah, yes. I was a teenager when I found out about the experiments from my cousin Romana. My aunt Ushas was a scientist, although that is a compliment in her case. Many of the things she’d done over the years were horrific. In fact, Romana said many of the documents for Ushas’ most awful experiments were destroyed for fear of detection. My aunt had been very thorough in some areas while also incredibly sloppy in others.”

“Like the Bad Wolf experiments?” Rose asked, laying a comforting hand on his arm. He nodded and gestured for her to sit at one of the tables with him. She watched as he threaded his fingers with her own, his thumb rubbing small circles over her skin. Biting her lip, Rose closed her eyes for a moment and enjoyed the feel of his warm hand in hers. What was it about this man that made her react this way?

John pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Yes, the Bad Wolf Phenomenon experiments were not as carefully controlled, but I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that the government caught wind of her unethical tendencies. She had been running out of time but for some reason did not want to give up the chance to find out whatever it was she was looking for.”

“Looking for? There was no mention in the articles we found that she was looking for anything in particular,” Rose said. “Makes you wonder what could possess someone to treat people like lab rats just to suit their own interests.”

“Yes, well, I try not to understand my aunt’s interests more than I have to. She was arrested soon after the last of her experiments were completed. That was around the time my cousin Harry became more secretive and he all but broke away from the family.” While he spoke, John turned Rose’s hand over and began absently tracing strange circular patterns in her palm that reminded her of the odd language she had found on the back of the schematics.

“And then he found out about your experiment.”

“Yeah.”

It was a lot to take in, but he had yet to tell her much about the Bad Wolf Phenomenon. She needed to know more to understand exactly what she was up against. “And your aunt was imprisoned for her crimes and Harry was left without a mother.”

“Well, she wasn’t really a mother per se. She kind of shoved Harry off on our grandfather to take care of him because his father was also out of the picture, although there was speculation that Ushas had something to do with that but it was never proven. She was a right piece of work,” John explained. He tensed up when he started to discuss his family history and Rose could only assume he didn’t much enjoy sharing such information. She also noticed that he was being evasive about the Bad Wolf Phenomenon which was not helping. They needed to get to the point of the conversation and soon before she was forced to leave.

Gripping his hand tightly, Rose leaned closer to John and stared him in the eye. “John, I need to know more about what we were talking about. How much do you know about the Bad Wolf Phenomenon?”

His reluctance had gotten old fast and Rose was no longer interested in Harold Saxon or his insane mother. Their priority was to find a way out this universe and back to the people waiting for them. John seemed to come to the same conclusion. “Well, straight to the point, the premise behind the experiments seemed to be testing the huon solution on human subjects and it’s affect on their psyches. Those involved wanted to know if one could exist simultaneously in two dimensions. Of course, those who did fall into the trancelike state usually never came out of it which makes your father’s case seem a little odd.”

“Yeah, he was given the huon solution but as far as we know, nothing more happened before he died. Makes me wonder who all was given the solution in his ward.”

“Yeah, and there’s no way to gain access to the documents used during that experiment. As far as I know, all documentation was destroyed except for a few bits that were used to incriminate my aunt.” He stopped as something occurred to him. “In fact, it was odd that she left the most obvious bits of her work exposed like that. Ushas was smart so it doesn’t make sense why she would leave that kind of evidence hanging about. It’s almost like she wanted to get caught.”

Rose nodded absently. She didn’t know much about the case against Ushas Saxon, but she had a feeling that there was something they were missing in all of this. However, they would have to save that for later. “Either way, she ended up in prison for what she’d done.”

“True. Well, she’s gone now so we can’t really ask her for help, not that she would be willing anyway. The fact is, you are now capable of transferring your consciousness across universes and we have to figure out if there is a way for you to connect between this world and ours without tearing both universes apart or you possibly dying.” He looked her in the eye, his brows scrunched together in concern. “Rose, if we deem this too dangerous for you, we’re pulling out. I’ll not have you sacrifice yourself for my mistakes.”

“This wasn’t your fault!”

He shook his head. “It was my experiment, Rose. I should have taken better care of it; seen the changes. I won’t have you risk your life on behalf of me.”

“It’s not your choice, now is it?” Rose said, agitated. “I chose to help you and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Rose, listen to me—”

“Uh uh. You aren’t going to convince me otherwise. I’m helping and that’s that.” She stood up, pulling her hand free, and put her fists on her hips. “Now, tell me how I can help. How are we going to make a bridge between this world and our world?”

He stared at her, eyes wide in astonishment before a wide grin broke across his face. “It’s not going to be easy and we’re going to need help. Do you think you can convince your team to give whatever assistance they can?”

“Hmm, Jack and Mickey won’t be very easy, but I’d never say no to a good challenge.”

“Okay, and there’s something else.”

Rose’s eyes widened as she watched John’s face shift from happy to concerned in a matter of seconds and she sat back down, letting him grab her hand again. “What is it?”

He scratched the back of his neck and winced. “I am missing the coral. The problem is, it’s not here and I have no idea where it is in our world. If Harry managed to get his hands on it then there is no way to get it back. Knowing my cousin, he’d hide it somewhere no one would think to look.”

“Do you have any way to track it somehow? Like a detector or something?” Rose asked.

He pondered this. “I don’t because I really haven’t needed one, but I think I might be able to make a schematic for a rudimentary detector for huon energy. _You_ won’t be able to use it, though, for obvious reasons.”

“Okay, I could talk to Mrs. Moore about it. She’s really good with that kind of stuff.”

“Great!” John exclaimed, brightening at the thought of their plan.

Rose stared at him joyfully and said, “How long do you think it will take you to make one?”

“I should only need about an hour and then you can take it with when you leave.”

A thought struck Rose. “That might help me convince Jack and Mickey, actually. I couldn’t come up with something like that without the help of a genius so they’ll have to believe me. Not that I’m not smart, I’ve just never handled anything remotely similar to what you do. They trust me, though.”

“You have a good team.”

She smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

“Alright then! Give me a little time find some paper and a pen and I’ll be able to draw you up a plan,” he said as he jumped to his feet, forgetting that he still had Rose’s hand clasped in his own.

Rose felt herself get yanked to her feet and she stumbled right into John. They both froze for a moment, each surprised at the sudden proximity of the other. Someone coughed on the other side of the room and they sprang apart muttering apologies. Lee was staring at them with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

John began to babble and mentioned heading off to the library to grab some books he’d need before darting out of the room. Rose stared after him in bewilderment. “Yeah, okay, I’ll just stay here.”

Not a moment later, Lee made his way over to her. “H-how goes the p-plan?”

“Well, I think. John, er, Dr. Smith is going to draw up some schematics for a huon detector so we can figure out where the coral is.”

Lee nodded, a little life returning to his cheeks. “That’s g-good.”

“Yeah, and hopefully we’ll be able to get you two back soon. Everyone’s missed you.”

At this, Lee smiled sadly but there was some hope lingering in his eyes. “I miss them too.”

They stood there awkwardly for a few moments before they heard the door to the workshop open and saw John clambering down the stairs, arms laden down with books and papers. “Alright, I have a good idea how this will work. Just give me a little time to write it down.”

He dropped the books on a table and began flipping them open, skimming a few pages before dropping it and doing the same with the next one. This went on for several minutes before John grabbed a pen and some paper and began drawing. Rose watched him flit through books as he worked, his eyes darting rapidly over page after page. His entire posture was practically vibrating with energy as he worked and she took a moment to just look at him.

John was lean and tall, built for running, and he had a boyish charm about him. His oxford had a few buttons undone at the top and the sleeves rolled up, showing off his forearms. His pinstriped trousers were an unusual match but seemed to fit him perfectly, in more ways than one. Rose blushed at that thought, telling herself that it wasn’t the time to be ogling the man, but she couldn’t help the way that her eyes lingered on his backside. He was very good looking, but handsome might not be the right word for him. Handsome fit someone like Jack and John was far too pretty. He also had an adorable habit of running his hands through his hair, making it stand on end as he worked through the schematics. It was strange how her eyes always seemed drawn to the odd man. He was an enigma, every bit as eccentric as the rumors said. She watched as Lee came over to help John work through some of the trickier bits of the design and Rose took some time to look around.

It was almost unnerving the way the interior of the room felt much larger than she expected. The walls were lined with strange hexagonal indentations that seemed to glow on their own, lighting the entire space. It wasn’t too bright and Rose had a good feeling they should have been even brighter if not for the change in dimension. It made her wonder what powered them. Large struts supported the ceiling, although they weren’t perfectly straight and made of a material that Rose had never seen before. In the center of the room was John’s machine which looked like the top of a mushroom with a green glass case sitting in the center of it with several tubes inside. Wheels and nobs cluttered the top of the machine, several of which were missing and she could see them sitting on the tables around the room. The column of tubes and green light went all the way to the ceiling where another set of tubes descended. From there, a series of large cables and wires led to small holes in the walls that must have led elsewhere in the house.

She took some time to circle the room and analyze the entire structure itself. The floor surrounding the machine was different than the rest of the room as it was made of grating and allowed for someone to slip underneath the console to repair or replace parts if need be. One such panel was lifted up and Rose crouched down to peer into the interior. There, right in the center of the console, was a large transparent case. It was empty.

But, was it?

There seemed to be an odd glow coming from it as though there was a light source but Rose couldn’t see what it was. How strange.

“Ah ha!” John’s voice interrupted Rose’s thoughts and she stood up to see both men exchanging a high five. “That seems to be it. With the right parts, it shouldn’t take long to make.” He sidled up to Rose with a grin on his face and practically bouncing on his heels. Thrusting the rolled up schematics into her hands, John peered around her to look at the open panel. He lifted an eyebrow. “What’re you looking at?”

“Hm?” Rose asked, slightly dazed by his enthusiasm. “Oh! Um, sorry, I was just looking at the interior. Is that where the coral is supposed to go?”

He seemed to like it when she asked questions about his machine. “Yup! It sits right at the heart of the machine.”

“Hm, what’s with the glow though?”

This caught John off guard and he blinked in confusion. “What glow?”

“The one where the coral is supposed to go. It’s faint, but there is a dim golden glow coming from there.”

John just stared at her and even Lee was giving her an odd look. “Rose…there isn’t a glow there. The coral used to glow when it was inside the machine, but it’s gone now. There is no way that it could still give off light.”

“But I swear I saw—”

But whatever Rose was going to say was cut off by a loud thump from upstairs. It was so loud that it made everyone in the room jump. John stared wide eyed at the ceiling, his mouth moving but no words escaping. There was a long moment of silence before another loud thump sounded and John tore off towards the stairs, Rose hot on his heels. As they burst through the door they heard a loud thud followed by a series of scratches. Whatever was causing the sounds was coming from the back of the house. They raced towards the back doors and were stunned by what they saw.

Through the small windows in the wood, they could see something hurling itself against the doors. Somehow the windows and doors were withstanding the onslaught, but with each hit the entire frame shook violently. They couldn’t see much of anything in the inky blackness outside, but there was some movement as something prowled along the windows next to the doors.

Several sickly yellow eyes stared through the windows at them and Rose thought she saw teeth glinting underneath them, thin like needles. The creature was making a noise that sounded something between a growl and a hiss, its hot breath fogging up the glass of the windows.

Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.

For several long moments all three of them just stood there in horrified shock, anxiety twisting in their stomachs. Rose could feel the hairs on the backs of her arms standing on end as her eyes darted around the room searching for any sign of the creature through the windows. She inched closer to John, her hand unconsciously seeking out his own. Their fingers twined together as if they had been doing so for several years and they squeezed each other’s hand in reassurance. Lee was standing behind them, his nervous breath rattling in his lungs.

Another loud crash against the door caused them to gasp in horror. The creature then started clawing at the door, but didn’t seem to be able to break through. Somehow, it wasn’t strong enough to get into the house but it was trying its hardest to rectify that problem. It growled in anger before throwing itself at the door one last time. The frame rattled again but held firm.

No one moved even an inch for several long moments, but eventually John backed Rose and Lee towards the door on other side of the room away from the back doors. He shut the door behind him and locked it, although Rose was certain it wouldn’t provide any defense should the creature manage to break in somehow. John swallowed audibly before tugging Rose towards the direction of the library and when she caught a glimpse of his face she could see that he was badly rattled by the recent turn of events. When she looked behind her, she saw that Lee was shaking and glancing nervously out the windows.

A searing pain in Rose’s temple flared up so suddenly it blinded her for a moment and she cried out before collapsing, John just barely catching her before she hit the floor. She could feel his warm hands, now clammy with sweat, as they caressed her face looking for any invisible injuries. Her head lolled a bit as the pain ebbed, but she could tell that she needed to leave. _Now_.

John looked her over worriedly as she got to her feet, but she assured him that she was alright for the time being and that she needed to return immediately. He was about to protest, but closed his mouth and helped her towards the library, eyes darting every so often towards the windows.

When they arrived, John eased her into the chair she first arrived in. “Are you going to be alright? How is your head? Still hurting?” He was almost frantic the way he flitted around her.

“Fine, just a headache.”

“Rose, I don’t think this is such a good idea anymore—”

“Stop it. This isn’t just about me any longer and you know it. Whatever that thing was, it has been seen before in our world. I’m almost certain that it’s the same creature in the photos and that means that it’s not just us who are in danger. I have to warn my team,” Rose said, her throat suddenly very dry and her eyes drooping in exhaustion. “I need to get back.”

“Rose,” he pleaded.

“Sorry, John, but I have to do this. It’s like you said, I’m the only one who can.” She gave him one last reassuring smile before shutting her eyes, letting her fall back to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing that registered was the voices. Someone was talking very quickly, clearly upset about something. When Rose opened her eyes, she could see Mickey and Jake talking animatedly to each other and pointing towards the window. Her entire body felt like lead, but Rose tried her hardest not to fall asleep again and listened to their conversation.

“Did you see it?! Tell me you saw it!” Mickey was talking and she could hear the fear in his voice, something she knew didn’t happen very often.

Jake was clearly just as disturbed as Mickey at that moment. “Yeah, it didn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen. Oh god, it was horrible. The eyes, it had multiple eyes, like a spider! And…and, what have we gotten into, Mickey?! What the hell is happening at this house?!”

“A lot more than we initially thought,” Rose said, interrupting them.

“Rose, oh god! There was this…thing! Rose, it was awful!” Mickey was at her side in seconds, hands clasping her arms in a vice grip. “How are you? Are you okay? What happened?”

“One question at a time, Micks. I’m fine, although very tired, and I saw him again. Dr. Smith, that is. Also met his assistant, Lee McAvoy. They’re both fine.” Rose tried to sit up more, but her muscles protested viciously and Mickey helped support her, resting her upper body against him. “I’ve got something I need to show Mrs. Moore. She’ll know what to do.”

“What is it?” Jake kneeled beside her, resting his hand on her knee and she knew it wasn’t just for her own comfort.

She winced as shifted against Mickey to free her arm and opened her hand, revealing the slightly crumpled paper that John had given her. “We need to find something and he has an idea how.”

Mickey had just opened his mouth to ask her something when he was interrupted by a horrible noise. Something was growling near one of the windows and they could hear the sound of claws scraping against stone. Something blocked out what little light was coming through the window from the village below and all they saw was the dark outline of something moving.

A piercing howl sliced through the room that sounded as though a thousand banshees were screaming at once.

Rose covered her ears as best she could and she saw her teammates do the same, but it wasn’t long before her vision began to cloud and she sank into the chair again, consciousness slipping away. The heavy weight of Mickey Smith fell on top of her as he fell unconscious.

She held on for as long as she could but soon she knew no more.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I have a brand new chapter for you all! :D Same thing as usual, any and all mistakes are my own because this fic is un-betaed. I really appreciate reviews so feel free to leave a comment or two. :) Thank you to everyone who has been reading and enjoying my fic! You are all amazing!  
> Enjoy! :D  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or any of its characters.

There was a rushing in her ears as Rose came to, followed by horrible nausea. She felt someone pull her into a sitting position and within seconds she was dry heaving, stomach acid burning at the back of her throat. Someone kept repeating that she was going to be fine, that she was safe now. It took her a moment to realize that it was Jack holding her up. She rocked back and forth in his arms for a while as her stomach settled.

“You are alright there, Rosie?”

Nodding weakly, Rose turned her head towards the others in the room that she hadn’t noticed until that moment. “Mickey…”

“He’s fine. Jake too. Mrs. Moore and Ianto are seeing to them.”

Jack kept rubbing her back as the vertigo subsided. When she took a moment to look around the room she could see that several of the windows had scratches and cracks all over them and a few of the smaller vases had smashed to the floor. “Jack…what happened?” she rasped out.

Her friend and boss gave her a once over before shaking his head in response. “Honestly, I haven’t a clue. I just remember hearing this god awful shrieking and ran as fast as I could to find you. By the time we got to the top of the steps in the workshop, it had stopped.” He stared down at her and, for just a moment, Rose saw a flicker of despair in his eyes. “Rosie…I thought the worst had happened. I thought it was you.”

She scoffed weakly. “Hardly. I couldn’t scream like that even if I wanted to.” Memories from before she passed out were hazy, but the screaming was something she wouldn’t soon forget. “It was…there was this…thing. That creature. The one we saw in the photos. Jack…it’s real!”

His face paled and Rose knew things had gone from bad to worse. It was strange how a case she thought would just be standard procedure turned into a nightmare and it was bound to get much worse unless they could come up with a plan. “Jack…”

“Rose.” His voice was soft, but stern as he looked at her. “I need to make a call. Can you sit up by yourself or do you want me to call over Mrs. Moore?”

“Jack, who are you—”

“Can you sit up or not?” he interrupted her as he reached into his pocket to fish out his cell phone, his expression strained.

She shrugged. “Yeah, I should be fine now, but Jack—”

“Good. Okay, just relax for a bit. It’s almost dawn and Wilf should be here soon,” Jack said quickly before leaning her against a chair and walking out of the room, leaving her to stare after him in stunned silence.

What was that about? Who was he calling?

“Rose…” Another voice caught her attention from across the room and she turned to see Mickey struggling to sit up, his eyes darting about wildly. “Rose, is she…”

Ianto helped Mickey into a sitting position as he soothed the man’s fears. “She’s fine. She’s sitting just by the couch.”

It was at that moment Mickey started to dry heave and Mrs. Moore was on her feet, a plastic bag clutched in her hands as she quickly made her way over to the two men. Jake was already awake, staring dazedly out the windows, his face ashen. Rose saw that his hands were clenching and unclenching, his entire body tense but his face never changed. In all their time working together, Rose had never seen such an expression on his face.

Jack chose that moment to walk back into the room, his jaw set and eyes dark in the early morning light. Wait, light? Rose turned her head towards the windows again and saw that sunlight was just creeping over the horizon giving the room an eerie glow, the splintered panes of glass etching spider web designs along the walls. Slowly, the sun crept higher as the group slowly rose and made their way from the room, heading back towards the foyer. Jack had slung an arm around her waist as he slowly guided them towards the front doors. His dark expression was greatly concerning to Rose as she had only seen that look a handful of times over the years that she’d known Jack.

Nudging him in the side with her hand, Rose asked, “What did you do?”

That seemed to startle him from whatever thoughts he was pondering. “Don’t know what you mean, Rosie.”

“Stop that!” she hissed, her anger causing her head to throb. “What the hell did you do? You made a phone call and now you’re acting like, I don’t know, like…”

“Rose, nothing’s wrong. Look, we’re just going to head back to the B & B for a bit and get you checked out. We need to regroup and no, I am not going to change my mind. I am in charge and we just had an already potentially dangerous situation take a turn for the worse.” Jack’s eyes were cold and unyielding as he helped her lean against a doorframe for support. “That’s my final say. Come on, we need to get out of here.”

“Jack—”

“Now, Rose!”

Rose stared at his back as he departed, her anger roiling just beneath the surface. How could he do this?! They were so close! She was so close to finding an answer and suddenly Jack decided to shut everything down. No, she didn’t accept that. “Like hell I’m going to just give up—”

“Rose.” Ianto’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Jack’s right, this is way over our heads. We need to take a step back and look at this logically.”

“But John—”

“I know you want to help him, Rose. Believe me, I get that. But after everything that transpired tonight…we can’t keep on like we have before. This has become a dangerous situation and now with that…that thing…Rose, we have to take the most vigilant precautions from now on. Regrouping is our best option at the moment.”

Ianto gently pried Rose away from the doorway in case she tried to go after Jack again. Her eyes remained fixated on the doorway, however, as turmoil churned in her mind as she contemplated her options. She could try and argue with Jack over this, but she knew he was far too adamant in his decisions to listen to her. The only choice she had at that point was to listen and come up with a plan of action to find the missing coral piece for John’s machine. She would have to find that before she could help him anyway.

Jack returned only a few minutes later, his eyes guarded and shoulders tense. Rose couldn’t remember a time when he’d looked so detached. Mickey and Jake were sitting up, the latter with his head between his knees and hands folded over his neck. It seemed they were just getting their bearings again when Jack announced that Wilf had just arrived and was waiting to let them out again.

As they loaded their equipment into the van, Rose surveyed the grounds. Most of the vegetation was dead, withered and shriveled. The once impressive estate appeared to have aged another couple hundred years in a single night. The various intricately carved stone statues around the home were missing limbs and much of their facial features had been almost completely eroded away. It was a depressing sight.

Mickey handed Mrs. Moore the car keys and decided to climb into Ianto’s car instead; Jake was already sitting in Jack’s car and still appeared quite pale after their ordeal. Rose slide into the front seat of the van with Mrs. Moore, glaring at the back of Jack’s head. She was still upset over his decision, but she knew that she had other things to worry about at that moment.

As they drove back to the B & B, Rose’s thoughts turned to her current dilemma: the missing coral. Where would she start? Was it possible that John’s cousin, Harold Saxon, had already found it? Or, maybe it was destroyed in the accident? Her head was beginning to pound and tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes as she felt the rhythmic ache. It was then that she realized just how exhausted she was and knew she wouldn’t be of much help to John if she wasn’t at her best. Sleep first and then she would go searching for the last piece of the puzzle.

Once they were all back at the B & B, the group shuffled up to Jack’s room and waited for him to give them a debriefing. He was still tense when he began asking about their experiences that night, starting with Mrs. Moore.

“Well, it started out the same as the other night. I set everything up for that night’s investigation and for several hours it was quiet in the workshop,” she explained, leaning back against the wall by the bathroom. “It wasn’t until the early morning hours that we started to pick up some unusual readings. At first, it sounded like just some electromagnetic interference but then there was this noise. It sounded as if something was scratching the walls on the outside of the house. Then we could hear growling and snarls coming from outside. It was faint at first and followed by more scratching, but then…” She trailed off, face pale.

“Yeah,” Ianto whispered. “That was when we heard the scream.”

Everyone blanched at the memory of the howling shriek that shook them to the core. Surprisingly, it was Mickey who spoke next. “It wasn’t like anything I’ve ever heard before. That…thing wasn’t from our world.”

“No.” Jack interrupted. “I don’t think it was either. I was hoping it was just an apparition, but it’s become clear what we are dealing with is anything but incorporeal. This creature is very real and very dangerous by what I can tell.”

Everyone paled at his admission as they realized just how lucky they had been. Whatever had been lurking in the darkness was now coming to light and they were unprepared to fight such a creature, if they even could fight it. Jack then continued on, expressing his thoughts on the situation.

“We have found ourselves in a very dangerous position and I think it’s time we consider pulling out—”

“No!” Rose jumped to her feet, swaying a bit before Mickey grabbed her arm and steadied her.

Jack sighed in exasperation. “Rose, this isn’t up for a vote—”

“No! I won’t let you do this, Jack. I’m not just going to leave this as it is. If you want to pull out, fine, but I’m going to see this to the end!” She went to stomp her foot in emphasis, but that only served to unsteady her further.

“Really, Rose? Are you even listening to yourself?” Jack bit out, his own anger flaring in response to her stubbornness. “There is a creature loose on the grounds of that estate, a creature we can’t even see most of the time, and you want to continue risking the lives of your teammates on the slight chance that you can save some man you might have met in a dream?!”

It was completely silent in the room as everyone watched the exchange between Rose and Jack. It was only a few seconds after he spoke those last harsh words that Jack seemed to come back to himself. He was remorseful as he spoke. “Rose, I’m so sorry, that was out of line and cruel…”

“No. No, I get it. You…you have to put the team first. My selfish whims are not a priority right now,” she said, her voice soft yet there was a slight edge to it. “I know you have to do what’s best for the team at the moment, but I have to help him, with or without your help.”

Jack sighed, clearly not happy by this turn of events. “I can’t let you—”

“You aren’t my keeper, Jack. If, as one of your team members, you cannot allow me to return to that house then consider this my official resignation.”

The whole room became a flurry of activity as Jake and Mickey tried to reason with Rose and Mrs. Moore began to argue with Jack. Ianto stood off to the side, unwilling to take sides. After a few moments, Jack shouted for quiet as he reigned in the rest of the team. “Rose, listen to me, this whole thing has gone far enough.”

“Don’t you dare patronize me, Jack Harkness. You aren’t my babysitter or my father and I will do what I damn well please. There are two people in that house that need our help and you’re backing out, so it’s up to me now.” Rose began to stride towards the door, intent on getting out of the suddenly stuffy room.

Jack’s hand shot out and held her in place, his face a myriad of emotions. “Please, Rose, just listen—”

“I can’t leave him, Jack. I just can’t.”

“I know, but just up and quitting isn’t going to help him.”

“And walking away will, I suppose?!” She knew it was rather harsh, but her anger was getting the best of her.

“No, it won’t, but taking a step back and evaluating the situation objectively will give us a better perspective.”

“I can’t just walk away, Jack.”

“I know, and I won’t ask you to, but we have to consider that this may be too dangerous for us to handle on our own.”

Rose’s shoulders drooped, the weight of everything pressing down on her. “Then what can we do?”

Pulling her into his arms, Jack tucked her head under his chin and rubbed her back soothingly. “There might be a way, but you have to listen to me from now on. Earlier this morning I made a call to someone I work closely with at my day job and he wants to take over the investigation from here on out.”

“What?!” Mickey shouted from his spot on one of the beds. “This is our investigation! You can’t just call in for someone to take over for us—”

“I can and I have, Mickey,” Jack responded, irritated. “We are out of our depth now and something has gone terribly wrong at the Smith Estate that could threaten the lives of the surrounding villagers.”

“What does he want to do, then?” Rose asked.

Jack released his hold on her before taking a step back to address the rest of the team. “We are to wait for him to arrive in Gallifrey before we do anything else concerning our investigation and wait for his verdict on the situation.” Rumblings of discontent filled the room before Jack silenced them again. “He will be here later this afternoon, so I suggest we get some rest while we wait.”

“I don’t know if I can sleep after what I saw at that house,” Jake said in a strained voice. He was shaking and his face was an unpleasant shade of green. Murmurs of agreement resounded throughout the room, all except for Rose.

She was starting to feel very sluggish and her head felt like it was filled with cotton. Sleep seemed to be a priority for her and she couldn’t push it off for very much longer. Yawning, she tried to shake herself awake a bit, but realized it wasn’t working. Jack appeared to sense her exhaustion and motioned for Mrs. Moore to help Rose to their room.

Rose made a beeline for her bed and collapsed on top of it, not caring that she was still fully dressed. Her eyes were closed before head even hit the pillow and sleep tugged her under within seconds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The air around her was freezing and, if she could see in the impenetrable darkness surrounding her, she was certain that her breath was misting right in front of her. As it was, the frigid air made her throat burn and her skin tingle unpleasantly. Wrapping her arms around herself, she realized that she was once again in that strange dreamscape.

Turning around quickly, her eyes searched the darkness for a flash of gold but nothing came. She wasn’t sure she should move away from her spot or not. The cold was starting to make her shiver violently and her teeth chatter, but still, the wolf was nowhere in sight. Crouching down, Rose wrapped her arms around her legs as she attempted to retain what little heat she had left, but it was leaving her fast.

It was then she felt something warm against her back. She turned her head around and spotted two large glowing eyes staring at her from only a foot away. The wolf tilted its head at her before turning and walking away, Rose following right behind it.

They walked a short distance before Rose caught sight of a familiar golden glow in the distance again. She sped up her pace until she was trotting right beside the wolf. The golden creature led her towards the coral, but it wasn’t until she was several meters away that she saw just how much it had changed since the last time she saw it.

The coral had grown so large it was roughly the size of a large oak tree. Rose’s jaw dropped as she came to stand right in front of it. She reached out a hand and placed it on a coral branch lying low to the ground, or at least what appeared to be ground, felt a soothing warmth creep up her arm and into the rest of her body. She sighed contentedly and leaned her body against the trunk of the coral tree and felt a pleasant tingling sensation everywhere her skin touched it. It was so strange how happy she felt, as though it wasn’t just her that was delighted. No, she felt as though she were two separate beings at once.

Images began to flood her mind as clung to the tree, a whirlwind of colors and sensations curling and twisting inside her. At first none of it made sense, but familiar faces began to pop up in the rush of pictures.

Lee.

Harold Saxon.

And…John.

She watched as each image changed and morphed into another and soon it was as though she was watching a movie within her own mind. John and Lee were working on the machine, each with panic stricken expression as they adjusted several knobs and levers. The coral was glowing underneath the console getting brighter and brighter before everything shifted and exploded with light.

A few seconds passed before Rose was able to see anything. John and Lee were lying on the ground, their images slightly out of focus, as though they were there in the room and yet not. She saw the coral glowing underneath the console, except that it wasn’t actually there. It was as though the images of John and Lee and the coral were superimposed over one another. There and not there, just like when several different slides were placed over one another on a projector. They all appeared to be in the same picture but pull the slides apart and it’s a very different story.

Understanding filled Rose as she realized what had happened, or at least she had the general idea of what had occurred the day of the accident. The time machine along with Lee and John were transported out of their dimension and into another and the coral somehow got caught in between those two dimensions. The reason they couldn’t figure out where the coral had gone was because it had been there the whole time, just not really. Well, that certainly presented a problem.

Rose felt something nudge her mind; a presence wanting to make itself known. When she opened her eyes, Rose looked down to see the wolf staring at her. Reaching a hand down towards the large animal, she felt its cold nose brush against her fingertips as it sniffed her. Seeming satisfied, the creature nuzzled against her hand and Rose felt the presence again, this time more pronounced.

“It’s you who brought me here, isn’t it?” she asked the wolf.

It merely stared at her, but Rose could sense a confirmation in her head.

“Why?”

The wolf shifted its focus towards the coral tree and then back towards her again, its eyes glowing even brighter.

“The coral? You wanted me to find the coral?”

Again a confirmation.

“You’re trying to help me, aren’t you?”

A complex series of images filled her mind, but she couldn’t make sense of it, although she sensed that it was another confirmation of sorts.

“How do I help John?”

This time the images were precise. The first one was of John at his machine with Lee on the other side of it, then there was an image of a counter with the numbers 2142315126, and finally there was an image of her down in the workshop with a strange metal cylindrical device in her hand, the tip glowing a vibrant blue.

In that moment, Rose knew what she needed to do.

“Thank you.”

Soon, she began to feel very drowsy and closed her eyes, knowing deep down that everything was going to work out. Within moments, she knew no more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rose opened her eyes slowly, the heat of the sun warming her still fully clothed back. Turning her head, she felt a painful kink in her neck. Groaning, she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Blinking in the bright sunlight, she realized that it must be late in the day, around four in the afternoon. She noticed that she was completely alone in the room and saw that Mrs. Moore’s bed hadn’t been slept in. Stretching, she got up and went to the loo to freshen up.

Everything that had transpired within her dream convinced her that she was on the right track and she needed to speak with Jack as soon as possible. After a quick shower and a change of clothes, Rose made her way down to the foyer of the B & B to find the rest of the team talking amongst themselves.

After a quick scan of the group, she realized that there was someone new. Before she could even ask Mickey who the man was, Jack spotted her and gestured for everyone’s attention. “Everyone, I would like to introduce you to my superior and good friend as well as the man who is going to help us, Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters.  
> Enjoy!

The Brigadier, as he liked to be called, was a stern man with a no nonsense attitude. He was intimidating, to say the least, but also kindly.

That was Rose’s initial impression of the man standing in front of them. He was an older gentleman who appeared to be around his mid-fifties and had an air about him that warned others not to cross him. A sleeping tiger whose tail she would never consider pulling.

“Hello,” she greeted, shaking his proffered hand, “my name’s Rose.”

His eyes widened ever so slightly at her name and she was almost certain it was a trick of the light at first, but he didn’t say anything. Something about his reaction gave Rose pause and she looked to Jack with questioning gaze, but he avoided her eye as he introduced the Brigadier to the rest of the group. She just passed it off as something she could discuss with him later; they had bigger concerns at the moment.

Each member of the team shook the man’s hand and greeted him in turn. After welcomes were made, Jack issued for everyone to get into their vehicles and head into town for a quick meal. They would use that time to discuss the situation at the Smith Estate.

As Rose climbed into the van next to Mickey, she noticed the Brigadier staring at her from beside Jack before averting his gaze and whispering something to the other man. Jack’s eyes flicked to hers, but they were unreadable. It was unnerving.

Were they talking about her, perhaps?

“He doesn’t seem so bad,” Mickey said as the van lurched into traffic.

“Hm?”

“The Brigadier.”

“Oh, yeah,” Rose murmured absently. “Yeah, he seems…alright.”

Mickey looked at her with concern. “You alright?”

“Yeah, fine.”

They fell into companionable silence for the rest of the trip into town. The day was overcast and gloomy, like there was a storm gathering strength above them. Rose was restless. Anxiety was clawing at her insides as she pondered over the events of the last several days. She knew that she needed to contact John again, but decided it best to talk to Wilf and Donna first. They were her best candidates for some answers.

As they pulled into a bistro off the main road, Rose looked out across the street and saw Sarah Jane waving to them. Rose smiled at the pleasant surprise.

“Hello, Sarah Jane!” Rose called out, just as she stepped out of the van. They met in front of the bistro and chatted for a few moments as they waited for the rest of Torchwood to make their way there.

When Jack and the Brigadier finally arrived Sarah Jane’s eyes widened in shock. “Brigadier! My word, it’s been a long time since I last saw you. This must be more serious than I thought,” she said, concern lacing her voice.

“Yes, hello, Sarah Jane. Good to see you again, although I wish it were under better circumstances,” the Brigadier said with a hint of affection. “Normally, I would be adverse to a journalist getting involved, but as it is you I think I can make an exception.”

“You’re right, you will,” Sarah Jane retorted firmly. “John is family and if there is even the slightest chance he is still alive, I will do everything in my power to find him again.”

This earned a genuine smile from the Brigadier and he nodded. “I expect nothing less. As it is, I would like to discuss the current state of affairs of this case with the whole team. Sarah Jane, I would like you to join us in this investigation.”

“Oh, of course. I’d be delighted.”

“Good, now that that’s settled, why don’t we grab something to eat,” the Brigadier suggested. Everyone began to move inside, but just as Rose stepped towards the door the Brigadier stopped her. “Miss Tyler, could I have a moment of your time?”

Rose was not surprised by the man’s request. He’d looked like he wanted to talk with her since they met. “Yes, of course.”

“Over here, if you please. I don’t wish to be overheard.”

Rose followed him towards Jack’s car and waited for the man to begin his questioning. It was a long moment before the Brigadier said anything. “Miss Tyler, I want you to understand that I am not here to investigate you or your…abilities.”

Rose tensed, not liking the direction of this conversation at all. “How do you—”

“Let’s just say, in my line of work one must be very thorough. That does not mean, however, that you are in any danger of exposure. I know that you have no reason to trust me outside of Jack’s word, but I promise you, Miss Tyler, that I will not breathe a word about your abilities to anyone outside of your team and those Jack trusts,” he explained earnestly.

Rose hesitated before she asked, “How do you know about me?”

The Brigadier sighed, suddenly looking his age. “I was on the original team that investigated the “Bad Wolf Phenomenon” back when Ushas Saxon was still at large.”

“Oh,” Rose breathed out, shocked. “So you…you know about…”

“I have read all the notes and information we were able to gather before she was arrested and most of her data lost. My knowledge of her work is only rivaled by those who were actually involved with Ushas.”

Nodding absently, Rose reeled at the information she was given. “So you know about…me, then?”

“Yes. You are the only known success in her experiment.” He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, clearly not used to addressing the topic so openly. “I do not mean to be callous with you about this subject, but I need to know exactly what you’ve been experiencing up until this point of your life.”

Rose chuckled, but the sound was hollow. “Well, it’s going to take a while.”

“Please shorten your explanation, then. We have very little time if we wish to help Dr. Smith,” he stated in a gruff tone.

Nodding, Rose began a shortened version of her discovery of her abilities. “…and then I found myself in Dr. Smith’s bedroom, but he was actually there. I mean, he was slouched in a desk chair, sleeping. I explained to him who I was and who I worked for. We didn’t get much time to talk the first night, but I was able to discuss some things with him. Over the past few nights, we’ve discussed his machine and how it works. I’ve also been able to cross over with objects in my hands.”

“You mean you can carry things with you when you cross over into this other dimension?” the Brigadier asked, completely awed.

Rose smiled wanly. “Yeah, but I’m not sure how far that extends. In any case, I’ve also been having…dreams.”

“Dreams? Are they relevant?”

“I believe so. See, I always end up in this cold netherworld that is shadowed in darkness, but then I find this golden wolf or, really, it finds me. I don’t know, that bit’s always confusing. Anyway, there’s this tree, but it’s not really a tree. It’s the missing coral.”

Confused, the Brigadier asked, “Coral?”

“Oh, sorry! Yeah, John’s machine uses this coral as fuel, although it is so much more than that. The coral itself is alive. And I don’t mean, just alive alive. It’s sentient,” Rose whispered the last part, her eyes darting this way and that. “It’s like, it knows who I am and who John is and what’s happening. The coral understands what I say and can even communicate in its own way.”

“Communication? Yes, yes, this is…very…good lord.”

“Rose!”

Quickly turning at the sound of Jack’s voice, Rose saw him looking past her towards the Brigadier, concern and irritation warring on his face. She looked back to the Brigadier, who was giving Jack a hard stare. The situation was growing more tense by the second and Rose knew that it wouldn’t help things if Jack went on the defense for her. “It’s alright, Jack. I’ll eat in a few minutes. We’re just finishing up.”

He hesitated for moment. “You sure?”

“Yeah. You know what, could you just go ahead and order me something. Don’t care what it is,” she shouted back.

“Sure,” he said, eyes flicking between her and his boss. “Yeah, alright. Brigadier, you want anything?”

“As much as I trust you, Jack, my appetite does not. I’ll pick for myself, thank you.”

Jack seemed to relax enough to crack a smile at the Brigadier’s remark. “Suit yourself, sir.”

“Yes, thank you, Harkness,” the Brigadier groused. “Miss Tyler and I are almost finished.”

Waiting for only a moment, Jack finally conceded and ducked back into the shop.

“Well, Miss Tyler, I do believe we have only a few minutes left. Just give me a quick rundown of what you’ve discovered these past few days, if you please,” the Brigadier demanded gently.

Rose nodded and finished her story. “Right, well, the coral is sentient and it’s trying to help John and Lee get back to this dimension, but it can’t do it alone. I think that’s why I was chosen to help. My ability to cross dimensions seems to be the key in all of this. If I can find a way to connect the universe that John is trapped in with the netherworld where the coral is trapped and then somehow connect both of those dimensions with ours, I believe I’ll be able to bring them all back.”

“That sounds incredibly dangerous, Miss Tyler. How do you know that you can create a bridge stable enough to cross them all over? There is a rift forming under that house and, by the sounds of it, it is becoming increasingly unstable by the day. Anymore instability may collapse in on itself, possibly taking the whole town with it.”

It was a daunting problem and Rose knew it. She hadn’t figured out all of the details yet, but there was one thing she did know. “It’s also very possible that the rift may collapse anyway, but if we act fast we may be able to close it in time and save John and Lee, too.”

“You can’t guarantee that, Miss Tyler,” he chided.

Rose lifted her chin a bit. “Neither can you guarantee that the rift won’t collapse on itself anyway. At least with my plan we have a chance of not only saving the whole town by stabilizing the rift, but we could also save two people previously believed dead. I won’t leave them behind.”

The Brigadier stared at her, eyes sharp and unforgiving. For a long moment, neither of them spoke until the Brigadier broke into a small smile. “You would make a good officer, Miss Tyler. I will admit, we have no idea how to stop that rift from collapsing, but your scientist may just be what we need.”

Rose blushed. “Oh, he’s not my scientist. I mean, he’s not my anything. We just met and he’s, well, he’s been…” She trailed off, embarrassed.

He chuckled, a knowing look in his eye. “Well, my mistake, then. Dr. Smith seems to be in good hands. I stand by what I said, though. You would make a fine officer, if you ever chose so.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think that’s really the life for me,” Rose said. Just then, her stomach rumbled a bit. “Oh! Sorry.”

“No need to apologize, Miss Tyler. I am interrupting your lunchtime. There are still a few things I would like to discuss with you, but they can wait until after lunch.”

“Thank you.”

And with that, they walked the short distance back to the bistro and sat down to eat with the rest of the crew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, the Torchwood crew, Sarah Jane, and the Brigadier pulled into the drive of the Smith Estate to an unsuspected sight. A series of black cars were parked outside the home and Rose could see a tall man speaking heatedly with Wilf.

Even from a distance, the man gave Rose the chills.

They pulled in beside the black cars, so as not to block them in, and made their way over to Wilf and the man. The moment the man turned around, Rose felt the air leave her lungs.

It was Harold Saxon.

And he did not look happy.

Saxon straightened his tie before giving them a winning smile that came across more malicious than he probably intended. “Ah, you must be Torchwood, I presume. And…Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. I wasn’t aware that you were in on this…investigation.”

“No, I am certain that you were not, Saxon. My business here is no concern of yours.”

Saxon sneered. “This is my ancestral home. That makes this my business.”

“Really? You all but handed this house over to John when the inheritance came up. Said it was worthless to someone who was actually going places,” Wilf cut in, obviously irritated at this man’s unexpected arrival.

“I was young then. This is the home my mother grew up in and as such, what happens in it is my concern,” Saxon announced coldly as he glared at the older man.

Wilf snorted. “This is first time I’ve ever heard of it. Besides, this house belongs to John and as such, is not considered legally yours.”

“You must be going senile, old man, because John is dead.”

“No, he’s missing.”

Saxon’s eyes narrowed as he smiled. “Believe whatever you want. The fact is that John is gone and the house—”

“Belongs to me.” It was Sarah Jane who announced this. “The house, according to John’s will, would pass to me in the event of his death. If you believe John is truly dead then the house belongs to me.”

Fury practically radiated off the politician as he turned his focus on Sarah Jane. “Well, there is a face I haven’t seen in a long time. It’s a pleasure to see you again, cousin.”

“I can’t say the same, Harold.”

The two stared daggers at one another before Jack stepped between them. “Well, now that we’ve introduced ourselves, why don’t you tell us why you are here, Mr. Saxon? I do believe that we have the consent of the caretaker and the current owner of the home to be here, so there must be some reason you feel that your presence is necessary.”

“My reasons are my own,” Saxon growled. “Why I am here is no concern to any of you. Besides, I was just leaving anyway. There is nothing for me here.”

“Well then, don’t let us stop you.” The Brigadier made a big show of stepping aside to let the irate man pass. “Do close the gate behind you when you leave.”

Harold Saxon sneered and strode haughtily towards his car and opened the door, but before he sat down he said, “I wouldn’t stick around if I were you lot. Don’t know if you’ve heard, but they say this house is haunted.”

“I’d say it’s haunted and by a most evil specter, too. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to understand that its presence is unwanted here,” Rose quipped, her eyes narrowing on the man. “Like he said, don’t forget to close the gate.”

Saxon smiled at her and it was twisted thing. Rose felt a chill travel down her spine. She didn’t like him one bit and the way he leered at her made her want to take a shower. Several, in fact.

“Well,” Saxon drawled, “that’s a thing to say. And who might you be?”

Rose felt something she had only experienced a few times in her life: true fear. The way Saxon stared at her made her insides go numb with terror. There was something about him that made her feel like she was something he might like to dissect. She resisted the urge to step back, but only just. Swallowing around the lump in her throat, she said, “Someone who has no interest in you.”

“Really?” He feigned hurt. “But I am so fascinated by you. What’s your name, girl?”

“Saxon,” the Brigadier cut in, a clear warning in his tone, “leave.”

“Ah, well…maybe next time. I would so very much like to get to know you, _flower_.” And with that, Saxon sent her a cold smile and left.

Rose was badly shaken by Saxon’s words. He knew who she was.

_Flower._

She shuddered.

A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped, eyes wild for a moment. Jack was standing right next to her, concerned. “Rosie?”

“I’m fine. He’s just…creepy.”

“He’s more than just that,” the Brigadier muttered. “Still, best be getting inside. I want to have a look around before we make any decisions.”

“We?” Rose asked.

“Before I make any decisions,” he corrected.

They all headed up the steps, but Rose stopped just outside the doors and turned towards the front gate of the Smith Estate. When she looked, she saw that Saxon’s car was right outside the gate, but it wasn’t moving. She knew he was staring at her, even through the tinted windows of his sedan, and quickly ducked inside the house.

The way he had looked at her gave her the feeling that he didn’t see her as human. No, she had the distinct impression that if his mother were still alive she would look at Rose in the exact same way. Like mother, like son.

She didn’t know how she knew what his mother might act like, but she just did.

Everyone stared at her with a mix of concern and curiosity. She winced. “Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover.”

The group followed Wilf around the manor again and shared their experiences throughout the tour. The Brigadier commented here and there and asked Jack to place a marker in certain spots. When they ascended the stairs into the master bedroom suite, Rose immediately went to John’s bed and sat down for a moment. Her hands brushed along the spot where she had first fallen into a trance and gave a slight smile.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye.

Rose shot up from the bed, eyes wide with panic as she scanned the room, but everything seemed to be in its place. A relieved breath escaped her and she went to leave.

There was a clatter and Rose gave a small shriek when something touched her foot. She jumped away from what had come in contact with her and stared down at the floor, terrified of what she might find there.

It wasn’t the black creature that stalked the grounds, that was for certain. In fact, it wasn’t anything that could hurt her. Or, at least it didn’t look like it could.

There was a long, silver cylindrical device on the floor that appeared to be a strange sort of tool. It looked familiar.

“Rosie, what the hell happened?!” Jack burst in, eyes wide with panic as he surveyed the room for any threat. Not finding one, he turned to Rose and checked her for bruises. “Why did you scream? Did you see anything? What happened?”

“I’m fine, Jack. Something just fell to the floor and spooked me, that’s all.”

“Are you sure?” he asked as he took her hands and stroked the top of her wrists in a comforting manner.

She nodded and peeked around him to where the object had fallen. Wait, she knew what it was!

“I think someone’s trying to give us a hand,” Rose remarked mysteriously. “That, or telling us to hurry it up already.”

Jack was confused. “What?”

“Never mind. Point is, I think I have an idea what to do now. I need to speak to the Brigadier about something.”

He frowned. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

Rose grinned. “Nope! But I think he might understand and if not, well, we’ll deal with that when we come to it.”

She picked up the cylindrical device and strode out of the room, almost running right into the Brigadier in the process.

“Oh, my apologies, Miss Tyler.”

“That’s okay. I needed to have a word with you anyway.”

He was surprised by this. “You do?”

“Yes, but I’d rather we talked in private.”

Jack was about to voice his opinion about this when Rose cut him off. “Jack, this is important. I can handle myself.”

“Never said you couldn’t, Rose.” He tone was serious. “I’m just worried is all.”

“Not need to worry, Harkness. Won’t be but a moment,” the Brigadier said. “We’ve seen all we need to see up here anyway, so why don’t you and everyone else go downstairs and wait for us?”

Jack hesitated, but did as the Brigadier asked.

That left the Brigadier and Rose alone in John’s bedroom and, for a moment, Rose couldn’t remember what she was going to ask him. Not that it mattered because the Brigadier spoke first.

“Miss Tyler, I have an idea about what you are going to ask.”

“Really?” Rose frowned.

“Yes. You want to contact Dr. Smith, do you not?”

Taken aback, Rose nodded. “I need his help to somehow connect that dimension physically with this one.”

“I know, but I must tell you, Miss Tyler, that the rift is becoming more unstable. If you do this, you must be quick about it.”

“I know, but that’s not all.”

“I had a feeling it wasn’t.”

Rose clenched her fists, suddenly nervous. “I…I might be hurt during whatever process is required to bring John and Lee back here and I need you to somehow keep Jack from severing the connection. Please, you must let me finish what I started.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. More than my life is at stake in this and, although there is a possibility that I might die, I will save the people of this town and the two men trapped between worlds,” Rose stated, her decision clearly nonnegotiable. “But believe me, Brigadier, I won’t fail.”


End file.
